Enhancement of thermoelectric properties in the Nb-Co-Sn half-Heusler/Heusler system through spontaneous inclusion of a coherent second phase

Half-Heusler XYZ compounds with an 18 valence electron count are promising thermoelectric materials, being thermally and chemically stable, deriving from relatively earth-abundant components, and possessing appropriate electrical transport properties. The typical drawback with this family of compounds is their high thermal conductivity. A strategy for reducing thermal conductivity is through the inclusion of secondary phases designed to minimize negative impact on other properties. Here, we achieve this through the addition of excess Co to half-Heusler NbCoSn, which introduces precipitates of a semi-coherent NbCo2Sn Heusler phase. A series of NbCo1+xSn materials are characterized here using X-ray and neutron diffraction studies and electron microscopy. Electrical and thermal transport measurements and electronic structure calculations are used to understand property evolution. We find that annealing has an important role to play in determining antisite ordering and properties. Antisite disorder in the as-prepared samples improves thermoelectric performance through the reduction of thermal conductivity, but annealing during the measurement degrades properties to resemble those of the annealed samples. Similar to the more widely studied TiNi1+xSn system, Co addition to the NbCoSn phase results in improved thermoelectric performance through a decrease in thermal conductivity which results in a 20% improvement in the thermoelectric figure of merit, zT. Published by AIP Publishing.