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Title: Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg 3 Sb 2 -based materials

Abstract

Achieving higher carrier mobility plays a pivotal role for obtaining potentially high thermoelectric performance. In principle, the carrier mobility is governed by the band structure as well as by the carrier scattering mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that by manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism in n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials, a substantial improvement in carrier mobility, and hence the power factor, can be achieved. In this work, Fe, Co, Hf, and Ta are doped on the Mg site of Mg3.2Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01, where the ionized impurity scattering crosses over to mixed ionized impurity and acoustic phonon scattering. A significant improvement in Hall mobility from ~16 to ~81 cm2∙V-1∙s-1 is obtained, thus leading to a notably enhanced power factor of ~13 μW∙cm-1∙K-2 from ~5 μW∙cm-1∙K-2. A simultaneous reduction in thermal conductivity is also achieved. Collectively, a figure of merit (ZT) of ~1.7 is obtained at 773 K in Mg3.1Co0.1Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01. The concept of manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism to improve the mobility should also be applicable to other material systems.

Authors:
; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1392688
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1470514
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Volume: 114 Journal Issue: 40; Journal ID: ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of Sciences
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 42 ENGINEERING; solar (photovoltaic); solar (thermal); solid state lighting; phonons; thermal conductivity, thermoelectric; defects; mechanical behavior; charge transport; spin dynamics; materials and chemistry by design; optics; synthesis (novel materials); synthesis (self-assembly); synthesis (scalable processing); thermoelectric; carrier scattering mechanism; ionized impurity scattering; n-types Mg3Sb2

Citation Formats

Mao, Jun, Shuai, Jing, Song, Shaowei, Wu, Yixuan, Dally, Rebecca, Zhou, Jiawei, Liu, Zihang, Sun, Jifeng, Zhang, Qinyong, dela Cruz, Clarina, Wilson, Stephen, Pei, Yanzhong, Singh, David J., Chen, Gang, Chu, Ching-Wu, and Ren, Zhifeng. Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg 3 Sb 2 -based materials. United States: N. p., 2017. Web. doi:10.1073/pnas.1711725114.
Mao, Jun, Shuai, Jing, Song, Shaowei, Wu, Yixuan, Dally, Rebecca, Zhou, Jiawei, Liu, Zihang, Sun, Jifeng, Zhang, Qinyong, dela Cruz, Clarina, Wilson, Stephen, Pei, Yanzhong, Singh, David J., Chen, Gang, Chu, Ching-Wu, & Ren, Zhifeng. Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg 3 Sb 2 -based materials. United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711725114
Mao, Jun, Shuai, Jing, Song, Shaowei, Wu, Yixuan, Dally, Rebecca, Zhou, Jiawei, Liu, Zihang, Sun, Jifeng, Zhang, Qinyong, dela Cruz, Clarina, Wilson, Stephen, Pei, Yanzhong, Singh, David J., Chen, Gang, Chu, Ching-Wu, and Ren, Zhifeng. Mon . "Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg 3 Sb 2 -based materials". United States. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711725114.
@article{osti_1392688,
title = {Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg 3 Sb 2 -based materials},
author = {Mao, Jun and Shuai, Jing and Song, Shaowei and Wu, Yixuan and Dally, Rebecca and Zhou, Jiawei and Liu, Zihang and Sun, Jifeng and Zhang, Qinyong and dela Cruz, Clarina and Wilson, Stephen and Pei, Yanzhong and Singh, David J. and Chen, Gang and Chu, Ching-Wu and Ren, Zhifeng},
abstractNote = {Achieving higher carrier mobility plays a pivotal role for obtaining potentially high thermoelectric performance. In principle, the carrier mobility is governed by the band structure as well as by the carrier scattering mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that by manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism in n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials, a substantial improvement in carrier mobility, and hence the power factor, can be achieved. In this work, Fe, Co, Hf, and Ta are doped on the Mg site of Mg3.2Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01, where the ionized impurity scattering crosses over to mixed ionized impurity and acoustic phonon scattering. A significant improvement in Hall mobility from ~16 to ~81 cm2∙V-1∙s-1 is obtained, thus leading to a notably enhanced power factor of ~13 μW∙cm-1∙K-2 from ~5 μW∙cm-1∙K-2. A simultaneous reduction in thermal conductivity is also achieved. Collectively, a figure of merit (ZT) of ~1.7 is obtained at 773 K in Mg3.1Co0.1Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01. The concept of manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism to improve the mobility should also be applicable to other material systems.},
doi = {10.1073/pnas.1711725114},
journal = {Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America},
number = 40,
volume = 114,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Sep 18 00:00:00 EDT 2017},
month = {Mon Sep 18 00:00:00 EDT 2017}
}

Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
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https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711725114

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