Polycrystalline Parametrized as a Narrow-Band-Gap Semiconductor for Thermoelectric Performance
Abstract
The transition-metal pentatellurides HfTe5 and ZrTe5 have been studied for their exotic transport properties with much debate over the transport mechanism, band gap, and cause of the resistivity behavior, including a large low-temperature resistivity peak. Single crystals grown by the chemical-vapor-transport method have shown an n-p transition of the Seebeck coefficient at the same temperature as a peak in the resistivity. We show that behavior similar to that of single crystals can be observed in iodine-doped polycrystalline samples but that undoped polycrystalline samples exhibit drastically different properties: they are p type over the entire temperature range. Additionally, the thermal conductivity for polycrystalline samples is much lower, 1.5 Wm-1 K-1, than previously reported for single crystals. It is found that the polycrystalline ZrTe5 system can be modeled as a simple semiconductor with conduction and valence bands both contributing to transport, separated by a band gap of 20 meV. This model demonstrates to first order that a simple two-band model can explain the transition from n- to p-type behavior and the cause of the anomalous resistivity peak. Combined with the experimental data, the two-band model shows that carrier concentration variation is responsible for differences in behavior between samples. Using the twoband model,more »
- Authors:
-
- Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
- Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States); Koc Univ., Istanbul (Turkey)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Colorado School of Mines, Golden, CO (United States)
- Argonne National Lab. (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States); Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC); National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Golden, CO (United States); Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), Argonne, IL (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1423194
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1417937; OSTI ID: 1419961
- Report Number(s):
- NREL/JA-5K00-71006
Journal ID: ISSN 2331-7019; PRAHB2; TRN: US1801719
- Grant/Contract Number:
- AC36-08GO28308; SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577; AC02-06CH11357
- Resource Type:
- Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review Applied
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Volume: 9; Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2331-7019
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; 71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; band gap; charge density waves; thermoelectric effects; semiconductor compounds
Citation Formats
Miller, Samuel A., Witting, Ian, Aydemir, Umut, Peng, Lintao, Rettie, Alexander J. E., Gorai, Prashun, Chung, Duck Young, Kanatzidis, Mercouri G., Grayson, Matthew, Stevanovic, Vladan, Toberer, Eric S., and Snyder, G. Jeffrey. Polycrystalline ZrTe5 Parametrized as a Narrow-Band-Gap Semiconductor for Thermoelectric Performance. United States: N. p., 2018.
Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.014025.
Miller, Samuel A., Witting, Ian, Aydemir, Umut, Peng, Lintao, Rettie, Alexander J. E., Gorai, Prashun, Chung, Duck Young, Kanatzidis, Mercouri G., Grayson, Matthew, Stevanovic, Vladan, Toberer, Eric S., & Snyder, G. Jeffrey. Polycrystalline ZrTe5 Parametrized as a Narrow-Band-Gap Semiconductor for Thermoelectric Performance. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.014025
Miller, Samuel A., Witting, Ian, Aydemir, Umut, Peng, Lintao, Rettie, Alexander J. E., Gorai, Prashun, Chung, Duck Young, Kanatzidis, Mercouri G., Grayson, Matthew, Stevanovic, Vladan, Toberer, Eric S., and Snyder, G. Jeffrey. Wed .
"Polycrystalline ZrTe5 Parametrized as a Narrow-Band-Gap Semiconductor for Thermoelectric Performance". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.014025. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1423194.
@article{osti_1423194,
title = {Polycrystalline ZrTe5 Parametrized as a Narrow-Band-Gap Semiconductor for Thermoelectric Performance},
author = {Miller, Samuel A. and Witting, Ian and Aydemir, Umut and Peng, Lintao and Rettie, Alexander J. E. and Gorai, Prashun and Chung, Duck Young and Kanatzidis, Mercouri G. and Grayson, Matthew and Stevanovic, Vladan and Toberer, Eric S. and Snyder, G. Jeffrey},
abstractNote = {The transition-metal pentatellurides HfTe5 and ZrTe5 have been studied for their exotic transport properties with much debate over the transport mechanism, band gap, and cause of the resistivity behavior, including a large low-temperature resistivity peak. Single crystals grown by the chemical-vapor-transport method have shown an n-p transition of the Seebeck coefficient at the same temperature as a peak in the resistivity. We show that behavior similar to that of single crystals can be observed in iodine-doped polycrystalline samples but that undoped polycrystalline samples exhibit drastically different properties: they are p type over the entire temperature range. Additionally, the thermal conductivity for polycrystalline samples is much lower, 1.5 Wm-1 K-1, than previously reported for single crystals. It is found that the polycrystalline ZrTe5 system can be modeled as a simple semiconductor with conduction and valence bands both contributing to transport, separated by a band gap of 20 meV. This model demonstrates to first order that a simple two-band model can explain the transition from n- to p-type behavior and the cause of the anomalous resistivity peak. Combined with the experimental data, the two-band model shows that carrier concentration variation is responsible for differences in behavior between samples. Using the twoband model, the thermoelectric performance at different doping levels is predicted, finding zT =0.2 and 0.1 for p and n type, respectively, at 300 K, and zT= 0.23 and 0.32 for p and n type at 600 K. Given the reasonably high zT that is comparable in magnitude for both n and p type, a thermoelectric device with a single compound used for both legs is feasible.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevApplied.9.014025},
journal = {Physical Review Applied},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United States},
year = {2018},
month = {1}
}
Web of Science
Figures / Tables:

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