Remarkably High Thermoelectric Efficiencies of the Half-Heusler Compounds BXGa (X = Be, Mg, and Ca)

被引:49
作者
Sun, Hai-Long [1 ]
Yang, Chuan-Lu [1 ]
Wang, Mei-Shan [1 ]
Ma, Xiao-Guang [1 ]
机构
[1] Ludong Univ, Sch Phys & Optoelect Engn, Yantai 264025, Peoples R China
基金
中国国家自然科学基金;
关键词
dimensionless figure of merit; power factor; thermal conductivity; transport properties; carrier concentration;
D O I
10.1021/acsami.9b19198
中图分类号
TB3 [工程材料学];
学科分类号
0805 ; 080502 ;
摘要
The thermoelectric materials with high values of the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) are among the most important new energy resources. Too much attention has been paid to the search of high-ZT thermoelectric materials, and the one with ZT = 5 has been reported recently. Here, a remarkably high ZT = 7.38 is predicted for the n-type half-Heusler compound of BCaGa at 700 K To understand the high-ZT behavior, we studied electronic properties of BXGa (X = Be, Mg, and Ca) with first-principles calculations based on the density functional theory. The stabilities of the structures of BXGa (X = Be, Mg, and Ca) are confirmed by phonon dispersion. The transport properties are determined by the semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory. We evaluate the relaxation time by using the deformation potential theory and the lattice thermal conductivity based on the elastic coefficients. The results demonstrate that such a high efficiency of BCaGa arises from the intrinsic coordination of the ultralow lattice and electronic thermal conductivity and the larger power factor at certain carrier concentration and temperature. The high n-type power factor originates from the large relaxation time, which results in a light, twofold degenerate conduction-band pocket at the Gamma point. In contrast, the power factors of BBeGa and BMgGa are smaller because of their flat-and-dispersive valence band. It is expected that the remarkable results for BXGa could encourage more experimental and theoretical investigations to develop efficient thermoelectric materials with BXGa.
引用
收藏
页码:5838 / 5846
页数:9
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