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Half-Heusler phases and nanocomposites as emerging high-ZT thermoelectric materials

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Abstract

Half-Heusler (HH) phases, a versatile class of alloys with promising functional properties, have recently gained attention as emerging thermoelectric materials. These materials are investigated from the perspective of thermal and electronic transport properties for enhancing the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) at 800–1000 K. The electronic origin of thermopower enhancement is reviewed. Grain refinement and embedment of nanoparticles in HH alloy hosts were used to produce fine-grained as well as nanocomposites and monolithic nanostructured materials. Present experiments indicated that n-type Hf0.6Zr0.4NiSn0.995Sb0.005 HH alloys and p-type Hf0.3Zr0.7CoSn0.3Sb0.7/nano-ZrO2 composites can attain ZT = 1.05 and 0.8 near 900–1000 K, respectively. The observed ZT enhancements could be attributed to multiple origins; in particular, the electronic origin was identified. The prospect for higher ZT was investigated in light of a recently developed nanostructure model of lattice thermal conductivity. Tests performed on p–n couple devices from the newly developed HH materials showed good power generation efficiencies—achieving 8.7% efficiency for hot-side temperatures of about 700 °C.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The work at University of Virginia is supported by a subcontract from a RTI International thermoelectric project sponsored by Honeywell under the auspices of the Army Research Lab. The work at Clemson University is supported by DOE/EPSCoR Implementation Grant (No. DE-FG02-04ER-46139) and the SC EPSCoR cost-sharing program.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physics, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, 22904-4714, USA

    S. Joseph Poon & Di Wu

  2. Department of Physics & Astronomy, Clemson University, Clemson, South Carolina, 29634, USA

    Song Zhu, Wenjie Xie & Terry M. Tritt

  3. Center for Solid State Energetics, RTI International, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, 27709, USA

    Peter Thomas & Rama Venkatasubramanian

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  1. S. Joseph Poon
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  2. Di Wu
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  4. Wenjie Xie
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  5. Terry M. Tritt
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  7. Rama Venkatasubramanian
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Correspondence to S. Joseph Poon.

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Poon, S.J., Wu, D., Zhu, S. et al. Half-Heusler phases and nanocomposites as emerging high-ZT thermoelectric materials. Journal of Materials Research 26, 2795–2802 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.329

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.329

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