Discovery of high-performance low-cost n-type Mg3Sb2-based thermoelectric materials with multi-valley conduction bands

Jiawei Zhang, Lirong Song, Steffen Hindborg Pedersen, Hao Yin, Le Thanh Hung and Bo Brummerstedt Iversen ()
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Jiawei Zhang: Center for Materials Crystallography, Aarhus University
Lirong Song: Center for Materials Crystallography, Aarhus University
Steffen Hindborg Pedersen: Center for Materials Crystallography, Aarhus University
Hao Yin: Center for Materials Crystallography, Aarhus University
Le Thanh Hung: Technical University of Denmark
Bo Brummerstedt Iversen: Center for Materials Crystallography, Aarhus University

Nature Communications, 2017, vol. 8, issue 1, 1-8

Abstract: Abstract Widespread application of thermoelectric devices for waste heat recovery requires low-cost high-performance materials. The currently available n-type thermoelectric materials are limited either by their low efficiencies or by being based on expensive, scarce or toxic elements. Here we report a low-cost n-type material, Te-doped Mg3Sb1.5Bi0.5, that exhibits a very high figure of merit zT ranging from 0.56 to 1.65 at 300−725 K. Using combined theoretical prediction and experimental validation, we show that the high thermoelectric performance originates from the significantly enhanced power factor because of the multi-valley band behaviour dominated by a unique near-edge conduction band with a sixfold valley degeneracy. This makes Te-doped Mg3Sb1.5Bi0.5 a promising candidate for the low- and intermediate-temperature thermoelectric applications.

Date: 2017
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms13901

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