Search Menu
DOE PAGES title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information
Search Scholarly Publications

Title: Record-Low and Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Bulk ZrTe 5 Single Crystal

Abstract

Zirconium pentatelluride (ZrTe5) has recently attracted renewed interest owing to many of its newly discovered extraordinary physical properties, such as 2D and 3D topological-insulator behavior, pressure-induced superconductivity, Weyl semimetal behavior, Zeeman splitting, and resistivity anomaly. The quasi-one-dimensional structure of single-crystal ZrTe5 also promises large anisotropy in its thermal properties, which have not yet been studied. In this work, via time-domain thermoreflectance measurements, ZrTe5 single crystals are discovered to possess a record-low thermal conductivity along the b-axis (through-plane), as small as 0.33 ± 0.03 W m–1 K–1 at room temperature. This ultralow b-axis thermal conductivity is 12 times smaller than its a-axis thermal conductivity (4 ± 1 W m–1 K–1) owing to the material’s asymmetrical crystalline structure. First-principles calculations are further conducted to reveal the physical origins of the ultralow b-axis thermal conductivity, which can be attributed to: (1) the resonant bonding and strong lattice anharmonicity induced by electron lone pairs, (2) the weak interlayer van der Waals interactions, and (3) the heavy mass of Te atoms, which results in low phonon group velocity. This work sheds light on the design and engineering of high-efficiency thermal insulators for applications such as thermal barrier coatings, thermoelectrics, thermal energy storage, and thermal management.

Authors:
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [4];  [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [5]
+ Show Author Affiliations
  1. Dalian Univ. of Technology, Dalian, Liaoning (China). Key Laboratory of Ocean Energy Utilization and Energy Conservation of Ministry of Education
  2. Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy and Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science; Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Materials Science and Technology Division
  3. Stony Brook Univ., NY (United States). Dept. of Physics and Astronomy
  4. Southern Univ. of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong (China). Dept. of Physics
  5. Univ. of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN (United States). Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, and Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States). National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center (NERSC); Univ. of California, Oakland, CA (United States); Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States); Vanderbilt Univ., Nashville, TN (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
OSTI Identifier:
1543693
Alternate Identifier(s):
OSTI ID: 1597913
Grant/Contract Number:  
AC02-05CH11231; SC0012704; FG02-09ER46554
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 10; Journal Issue: 47; Journal ID: ISSN 1944-8244
Publisher:
American Chemical Society (ACS)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
36 MATERIALS SCIENCE; Science & Technology - Other Topics; Materials Science

Citation Formats

Zhu, Jie, Feng, Tianli, Mills, Scott, Wang, Peipei, Wu, Xuewang, Zhang, Liyuan, Pantelides, Sokrates T., Du, Xu, and Wang, Xiaojia. Record-Low and Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Bulk ZrTe 5 Single Crystal. United States: N. p., 2018. Web. doi:10.1021/acsami.8b12504.
Copy to clipboard
Zhu, Jie, Feng, Tianli, Mills, Scott, Wang, Peipei, Wu, Xuewang, Zhang, Liyuan, Pantelides, Sokrates T., Du, Xu, & Wang, Xiaojia. Record-Low and Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Bulk ZrTe 5 Single Crystal. United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b12504
Copy to clipboard
Zhu, Jie, Feng, Tianli, Mills, Scott, Wang, Peipei, Wu, Xuewang, Zhang, Liyuan, Pantelides, Sokrates T., Du, Xu, and Wang, Xiaojia. Fri . "Record-Low and Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Bulk ZrTe 5 Single Crystal". United States. https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b12504. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1543693.
Copy to clipboard
@article{osti_1543693,
title = {Record-Low and Anisotropic Thermal Conductivity of a Quasi-One-Dimensional Bulk ZrTe 5 Single Crystal},
author = {Zhu, Jie and Feng, Tianli and Mills, Scott and Wang, Peipei and Wu, Xuewang and Zhang, Liyuan and Pantelides, Sokrates T. and Du, Xu and Wang, Xiaojia},
abstractNote = {Zirconium pentatelluride (ZrTe5) has recently attracted renewed interest owing to many of its newly discovered extraordinary physical properties, such as 2D and 3D topological-insulator behavior, pressure-induced superconductivity, Weyl semimetal behavior, Zeeman splitting, and resistivity anomaly. The quasi-one-dimensional structure of single-crystal ZrTe5 also promises large anisotropy in its thermal properties, which have not yet been studied. In this work, via time-domain thermoreflectance measurements, ZrTe5 single crystals are discovered to possess a record-low thermal conductivity along the b-axis (through-plane), as small as 0.33 ± 0.03 W m–1 K–1 at room temperature. This ultralow b-axis thermal conductivity is 12 times smaller than its a-axis thermal conductivity (4 ± 1 W m–1 K–1) owing to the material’s asymmetrical crystalline structure. First-principles calculations are further conducted to reveal the physical origins of the ultralow b-axis thermal conductivity, which can be attributed to: (1) the resonant bonding and strong lattice anharmonicity induced by electron lone pairs, (2) the weak interlayer van der Waals interactions, and (3) the heavy mass of Te atoms, which results in low phonon group velocity. This work sheds light on the design and engineering of high-efficiency thermal insulators for applications such as thermal barrier coatings, thermoelectrics, thermal energy storage, and thermal management.},
doi = {10.1021/acsami.8b12504},
journal = {ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces},
number = 47,
volume = 10,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Nov 02 00:00:00 EDT 2018},
month = {Fri Nov 02 00:00:00 EDT 2018}
}
Copy to clipboard
Journal Article:
Free Publicly Available Full Text
Publisher's Version of Record
https://doi.org/10.1021/acsami.8b12504
Copyright Statement
Other availability
Search WorldCat Search WorldCat to find libraries that may hold this journal
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 28 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science
Save / Share:
Export Metadata
Save to My Library
You must Sign In or Create an Account in order to save documents to your library.

Works referenced in this record:

Electronic evidence of temperature-induced Lifshitz transition and topological nature in ZrTe5
journal, May 2017

  • Zhang, Yan; Wang, Chenlu; Yu, Li
  • Nature Communications, Vol. 8, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms15512

Chiral magnetic effect in ZrTe5
journal, February 2016

  • Li, Qiang; Kharzeev, Dmitri E.; Zhang, Cheng
  • Nature Physics, Vol. 12, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1038/nphys3648

Strong Photothermoelectric Response and Contact Reactivity of the Dirac Semimetal ZrTe 5
journal, October 2017

  • Léonard, François; Yu, Wenlong; Collins, Kimberlee C.
  • ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, Vol. 9, Issue 42
  • DOI: 10.1021/acsami.7b11056

Investigation of the thermal conductivity of the mixed pentatellurides Hf1−xZrxTe5
journal, October 2000

  • Zawilski, B. M.; Littleton, R. T.; Tritt, Terry M.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 77, Issue 15
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1316065

Enhanced thermopower and low thermal conductivity in p-type polycrystalline ZrTe 5
journal, July 2017

  • Hooda, M. K.; Yadav, C. S.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4997460

Thermal Properties Of ZrTe 5
journal, March 1985

  • Smontara, Ana; Biljaković, Katica
  • Molecular Crystals and Liquid Crystals, Vol. 121, Issue 1-4
  • DOI: 10.1080/00268948508074849

First-principles study of lattice thermal conductivity in ZrTe 5 and HfTe 5
journal, May 2018

  • Wang, Cong; Wang, Haifeng; Chen, Y. B.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 123, Issue 17
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.5020615

Microstructure, growth mechanism and anisotropic resistivity of quasi-one-dimensional ZrTe5 crystal
journal, January 2017

Analysis of heat flow in layered structures for time-domain thermoreflectance
journal, December 2004

  • Cahill, David G.
  • Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 75, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.1819431

Ultrafast thermoreflectance techniques for measuring thermal conductivity and interface thermal conductance of thin films
journal, November 2010

  • Zhu, Jie; Tang, Dawei; Wang, Wei
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 108, Issue 9
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.3504213

The Ultrafast Laser Pump-Probe Technique for Thermal Characterization of Materials With Micro/Nanostructures
journal, April 2017

  • Zhu, Jie; Wu, Xuewang; Lattery, Dustin M.
  • Nanoscale and Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, Vol. 21, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1080/15567265.2017.1313343

Generation and detection of picosecond acoustic pulses in thin metal films
journal, March 1987

  • Eesley, Gary L.; Clemens, Bruce M.; Paddock, Carolyn A.
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 50, Issue 12
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.98077

Structure-thermal property correlation of aligned silicon dioxide nanorod arrays
journal, June 2016

  • Zhu, Jie; Zhu, Yu; Wu, Xuewang
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 23
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4953625

ZrTe5 and HfTe5: The heat capacity and derived thermophysical properties from 6 to 350 K
journal, July 1989

Ultralow thermal conductivity and high thermoelectric figure of merit in SnSe crystals
journal, April 2014

  • Zhao, Li-Dong; Lo, Shih-Han; Zhang, Yongsheng
  • Nature, Vol. 508, Issue 7496, p. 373-377
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature13184

The intrinsic thermal conductivity of SnSe
journal, November 2016

  • Wei, Pai-Chun; Bhattacharya, S.; He, J.
  • Nature, Vol. 539, Issue 7627
  • DOI: 10.1038/nature19832

Synthesis, Structure, and Thermoelectric Properties of α-Zn 3 Sb 2 and Comparison to β-Zn 13 Sb 10
journal, May 2017

Single Crystal Bismuth Telluride
journal, June 1956

Interface Chemistry of Contact Metals and Ferromagnets on the Topological Insulator Bi 2 Se 3
journal, October 2017

  • Walsh, Lee A.; Smyth, Christopher M.; Barton, Adam T.
  • The Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Vol. 121, Issue 42
  • DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpcc.7b08480

Probing anisotropic heat transport using time-domain thermoreflectance with offset laser spots
journal, October 2012

  • Feser, Joseph P.; Cahill, David G.
  • Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 83, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4757863

Pump-probe measurements of the thermal conductivity tensor for materials lacking in-plane symmetry
journal, October 2014

  • Feser, Joseph P.; Liu, Jun; Cahill, David G.
  • Review of Scientific Instruments, Vol. 85, Issue 10
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4897622

Revealing the Origins of 3D Anisotropic Thermal Conductivities of Black Phosphorus
journal, March 2016

  • Zhu, Jie; Park, Haechan; Chen, Jun-Yang
  • Advanced Electronic Materials, Vol. 2, Issue 5
  • DOI: 10.1002/aelm.201600040

Measurement of the anisotropic thermal conductivity of molybdenum disulfide by the time-resolved magneto-optic Kerr effect
journal, December 2014

  • Liu, Jun; Choi, Gyung-Min; Cahill, David G.
  • Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 116, Issue 23
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4904513

Thermal Conductivity of Graphene and Graphite: Collective Excitations and Mean Free Paths
journal, October 2014

  • Fugallo, Giorgia; Cepellotti, Andrea; Paulatto, Lorenzo
  • Nano Letters, Vol. 14, Issue 11
  • DOI: 10.1021/nl502059f

Unusual Enhancement in Intrinsic Thermal Conductivity of Multilayer Graphene by Tensile Strains
journal, August 2015

Resonant bonding leads to low lattice thermal conductivity
journal, April 2014

  • Lee, Sangyeop; Esfarjani, Keivan; Luo, Tengfei
  • Nature Communications, Vol. 5, Issue 1
  • DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4525

Experimental evidence of very long intrinsic phonon mean free path along the c -axis of graphite
journal, January 2015

  • Fu, Qiang; Yang, Juekuan; Chen, Yunfei
  • Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 3
  • DOI: 10.1063/1.4906348

Thermal Conductivity of Polycrystalline Materials
journal, March 1995

Structural properties of ZrTe5 and HfTe5 as seen by powder diffraction
journal, October 1986

ShengBTE: A solver of the Boltzmann transport equation for phonons
journal, June 2014

  • Li, Wu; Carrete, Jesús; A. Katcho, Nebil
  • Computer Physics Communications, Vol. 185, Issue 6
  • DOI: 10.1016/j.cpc.2014.02.015
    Sort by:
    [ × clear filter / sort ]

    Works referencing / citing this record:

    Soft phonons and ultralow lattice thermal conductivity in the Dirac semimetal Cd 3 As 2
    journal, November 2019

    Thermal Conductivity of HfTe 5 : A Critical Revisit
    journal, November 2019

    • Feng, Tianli; Wu, Xuewang; Yang, Xiaolong
    • Advanced Functional Materials, Vol. 30, Issue 5
    • DOI: 10.1002/adfm.201907286

    Large transverse thermoelectric figure of merit in a topological Dirac semimetal
    journal, November 2019

    • Xiang, JunSen; Hu, SiLe; Lyu, Meng
    • Science China Physics, Mechanics & Astronomy, Vol. 63, Issue 3
    • DOI: 10.1007/s11433-019-1445-4

    Cation role in the thermal properties of layered materials M 1 + M 3 + P 2 ( S , Se ) 6 ( M 1 + = Cu , Ag ; M 3 + = In , Bi )
    journal, October 2019

      Sort by:
      [ × clear filter / sort ]

      Similar Records in DOE PAGES and OSTI.GOV collections: