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Title: Discovery of ZrCoBi based half Heuslers with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency

Abstract

Abstract Thermoelectric materials are capable of converting waste heat into electricity. The dimensionless figure-of-merit (ZT), as the critical measure for the material’s thermoelectric performance, plays a decisive role in the energy conversion efficiency. Half-Heusler materials, as one of the most promising candidates for thermoelectric power generation, have relatively low ZTs compared to other material systems. Here we report the discovery of p -type ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers with a record-high ZT of ∼1.42 at 973 K and a high thermoelectric conversion efficiency of ∼9% at the temperature difference of ∼500 K. Such an outstanding thermoelectric performance originates from its unique band structure offering a high band degeneracy ( N v ) of 10 in conjunction with a low thermal conductivity benefiting from the low mean sound velocity ( v m ∼2800 m s −1 ). Our work demonstrates that ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers are promising candidates for high-temperature thermoelectric power generation.

Authors:
; ; ORCiD logo; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ORCiD logo; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC); Massachusetts Inst. of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, MA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1456255
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1511491
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0001299
Resource Type:
Published Article
Journal Name:
Nature Communications
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Volume: 9 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2041-1723
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group
Country of Publication:
United Kingdom
Language:
English
Subject:
75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats

Zhu, Hangtian, He, Ran, Mao, Jun, Zhu, Qing, Li, Chunhua, Sun, Jifeng, Ren, Wuyang, Wang, Yumei, Liu, Zihang, Tang, Zhongjia, Sotnikov, Andrei, Wang, Zhiming, Broido, David, Singh, David J., Chen, Gang, Nielsch, Kornelius, and Ren, Zhifeng. Discovery of ZrCoBi based half Heuslers with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency. United Kingdom: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1038/s41467-018-04958-3.
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Zhu, Hangtian, He, Ran, Mao, Jun, Zhu, Qing, Li, Chunhua, Sun, Jifeng, Ren, Wuyang, Wang, Yumei, Liu, Zihang, Tang, Zhongjia, Sotnikov, Andrei, Wang, Zhiming, Broido, David, Singh, David J., Chen, Gang, Nielsch, Kornelius, & Ren, Zhifeng. Discovery of ZrCoBi based half Heuslers with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency. United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04958-3
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Zhu, Hangtian, He, Ran, Mao, Jun, Zhu, Qing, Li, Chunhua, Sun, Jifeng, Ren, Wuyang, Wang, Yumei, Liu, Zihang, Tang, Zhongjia, Sotnikov, Andrei, Wang, Zhiming, Broido, David, Singh, David J., Chen, Gang, Nielsch, Kornelius, and Ren, Zhifeng. Wed . "Discovery of ZrCoBi based half Heuslers with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency". United Kingdom. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04958-3.
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@article{osti_1456255,
title = {Discovery of ZrCoBi based half Heuslers with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency},
author = {Zhu, Hangtian and He, Ran and Mao, Jun and Zhu, Qing and Li, Chunhua and Sun, Jifeng and Ren, Wuyang and Wang, Yumei and Liu, Zihang and Tang, Zhongjia and Sotnikov, Andrei and Wang, Zhiming and Broido, David and Singh, David J. and Chen, Gang and Nielsch, Kornelius and Ren, Zhifeng},
abstractNote = {Abstract Thermoelectric materials are capable of converting waste heat into electricity. The dimensionless figure-of-merit (ZT), as the critical measure for the material’s thermoelectric performance, plays a decisive role in the energy conversion efficiency. Half-Heusler materials, as one of the most promising candidates for thermoelectric power generation, have relatively low ZTs compared to other material systems. Here we report the discovery of p -type ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers with a record-high ZT of ∼1.42 at 973 K and a high thermoelectric conversion efficiency of ∼9% at the temperature difference of ∼500 K. Such an outstanding thermoelectric performance originates from its unique band structure offering a high band degeneracy ( N v ) of 10 in conjunction with a low thermal conductivity benefiting from the low mean sound velocity ( v m ∼2800 m s −1 ). Our work demonstrates that ZrCoBi-based half-Heuslers are promising candidates for high-temperature thermoelectric power generation.},
doi = {10.1038/s41467-018-04958-3},
journal = {Nature Communications},
number = 1,
volume = 9,
place = {United Kingdom},
year = {Wed Jun 27 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Wed Jun 27 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
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Journal Article:
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Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-04958-3
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Cited by: 208 works
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Figures / Tables:

Fig. 1 Fig. 1: Thermoelectric figure-of-merit ZT. Comparison of temperature-dependent ZT values (a) and average ZTs (b) between p-type ZrCoBi0.65Sb0.15Sn0.2 and the reported state-of-the-art p-type half-Heuslers
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