Improving the thermoelectric properties of half-Heusler TiNiSn through inclusion of a second full-Heusler phase: microwave preparation and spark plasma sintering of …

CS Birkel, JE Douglas, BR Lettiere, G Seward… - Physical Chemistry …, 2013 - pubs.rsc.org
Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 2013pubs.rsc.org
Half-Heusler thermoelectrics offer the possibility to choose from a variety of non-toxic and
earth-abundant elements. TiNiSn is of particular interest and–with its relatively high
electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient–allows for optimization of its thermoelectric
figure of merit, reaching values of up to 1 in heavily-doped and/or phase-segregated
systems. In this contribution, we used an energy-and time-efficient process involving solid-
state preparation in a commercial microwave oven and a fast consolidation technique, Spark …
Half-Heusler thermoelectrics offer the possibility to choose from a variety of non-toxic and earth-abundant elements. TiNiSn is of particular interest and – with its relatively high electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient – allows for optimization of its thermoelectric figure of merit, reaching values of up to 1 in heavily-doped and/or phase-segregated systems. In this contribution, we used an energy- and time-efficient process involving solid-state preparation in a commercial microwave oven and a fast consolidation technique, Spark Plasma Sintering, to prepare a series of Ni-rich TiNi1+xSn with small deviations from the half-Heusler composition. Spark Plasma Sintering plays an important role in the process by being a part of the synthesis of the material rather than solely a densification technique. Synchrotron powder X-ray diffraction and microprobe data confirm the presence of a secondary TiNi2Sn full-Heusler phase within the half-Heusler matrix. We observe a clear correlation between the amount of full-Heusler phase and the lattice thermal conductivity of the samples, resulting in decreasing total thermal conductivity with increasing TiNi2Sn fraction. This trend shows that phonons are scattered effectively as a result of the microstructure of the materials with full-Heusler inclusions in the size range of microns to tens of microns. The best performing samples with around 5% of TiNi2Sn phase exhibit maximum figures of merit of almost 0.6 between 750 K and 800 K which is an increase of ca. 35% compared to the zT of the parent compound TiNiSn.
The Royal Society of Chemistry
以上显示的是最相近的搜索结果。 查看全部搜索结果