Yan, Ruijuan (2022)
Synthesis, Defect Tuning, and Thermoelectric properties of NbCoSn and ZrNiSn Half-Heusler Compounds.
Technische Universität Darmstadt
doi: 10.26083/tuprints-00021339
Ph.D. Thesis, Primary publication, Publisher's Version
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Item Type: | Ph.D. Thesis | ||||
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Type of entry: | Primary publication | ||||
Title: | Synthesis, Defect Tuning, and Thermoelectric properties of NbCoSn and ZrNiSn Half-Heusler Compounds | ||||
Language: | English | ||||
Referees: | Weidenkaff, Prof. Dr. Anke ; Gutfleisch, Prof. Dr. Oliver ; Zhang, Prof. Dr. Hongbin ; Felser, Prof. Dr. Claudia | ||||
Date: | 2022 | ||||
Place of Publication: | Darmstadt | ||||
Collation: | viii, 115 Seiten | ||||
Date of oral examination: | 7 April 2022 | ||||
DOI: | 10.26083/tuprints-00021339 | ||||
Abstract: | Due to the direct interconversion of heat and electricity, thermoelectrical materials have attracted much scientific attention. Half-Heusler compounds with 18 valence electrons are one of the promising thermoelectric materials due to their excellent electrical properties, thermal stability, and affordable elements. In this dissertation, the half-Heusler compounds NbCoSn and ZrNiSn were exemplarily investigated, including crystal and defect structure, microstructure, electronic band structures, thermoelectric properties, and correlations between them. Half-Heusler compound NbCoSn was predicated as both promising n-type and p-type thermoelectric candidates, making it possible to use for both legs of one thermoelectric device. In this work, n-type NbCo1-xNixSn and p-type Nb1-xScxCoSn samples were successfully synthesized. The phase structure and microstructure analysis revealed that the arc-melted desired NbCoSn phase always contained excessive Co, occupying not only the 4c position but also the part of the vacant 4d position. Due to this phenomenon, when Ni was introduced, it occupied both 4c and 4d positions as well, which has been confirmed by formation energy calculations. Furthermore, the electronic band structure calculations indicated that in-gap states were formed due to the existence of the excessive Ni/Co, leading to the largely increased charge carrier concentration. With the suppression of thermal conductivity due to point defects from Ni and the interfaces between the half-Heusler and the full-Heusler phases, an evident enhancement of ZT was achieved. For Nb1-xScxCoSn, p-type semiconductors were realized with Sc ≥ 0.05. Thermal conductivity was reduced because of the stronger mass and strain field fluctuations induced by the radius and the interatomic coupling force differences between Nb and Sc. However, due to the existence of excessive Co in the samples, the improvement in ZT of p-type NbCoSn was undermined. Besides, the half-Heusler compound ZrNiSn has the same dynamic interstitial defects as the NbCoSn compound. In this work, ZrNiCuxSn samples were synthesized as well to investigate the occupation and distribution of Cu atoms, which have an important impact on thermoelectric properties. It was found that Cu atoms occupied both 4c and 4d positions, leading to the increase in charge carrier concentrations. Simultaneously, the thermal conductivity of Cu-excessive ZrNiSn samples was reduced because of the interstitial defects and the interfaces after Cu introduction. Therefore, the ZT achieved an obvious improvement in ZrNiSn-based samples. The obtained results demonstrated that utilizing interstitial defects is a promising approach to enhance the thermoelectric performance of n-type half-Heusler compounds. While to optimize the thermoelectric properties of p-type half-Heusler compounds, the interstitial defects should be controlled. |
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Status: | Publisher's Version | ||||
URN: | urn:nbn:de:tuda-tuprints-213390 | ||||
Classification DDC: | 500 Science and mathematics > 500 Science | ||||
Divisions: | 11 Department of Materials and Earth Sciences > Material Science > Materials and Resources | ||||
Date Deposited: | 01 Jun 2022 12:10 | ||||
Last Modified: | 19 Aug 2022 06:32 | ||||
URI: | https://tuprints.ulb.tu-darmstadt.de/id/eprint/21339 | ||||
PPN: | 496550160 | ||||
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