Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials

Jun Mao; Jing Shuai; Shaowei Song; Yixuan Wu; Rebecca Dally; Jiawei Zhou; Zihang Liu; Jifeng Sun; Qinyong Zhang; Clarina Dela Cruz; Stephen Wilson; Yanzhong Pei; David J. Singh; Gang Chen; Ching Wu Chu; Zhifeng Ren

doi:10.1073/pnas.1711725114

Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg₃Sb₂-based materials

Jun Mao, Jing Shuai, Shaowei Song, Yixuan Wu, Rebecca Dally, Jiawei Zhou, Zihang Liu, Jifeng Sun, Qinyong Zhang, Clarina Dela Cruz, Stephen Wilson, Yanzhong Pei, David J. Singh, Gang Chen, Ching Wu Chu, Zhifeng Ren

Powder Diffraction

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

316 Scopus citations

Abstract

Achieving higher carrier mobility plays a pivotal role for obtaining potentially high thermoelectric performance. In principle, the carrier mobility is governed by the band structure as well as by the carrier scattering mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that by manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism in n-type Mg₃Sb₂-based materials, a substantial improvement in carrier mobility, and hence the power factor, can be achieved. In this work, Fe, Co, Hf, and Ta are doped on the Mg site of Mg_3.2Sb_1.5Bi_0.49Te_0.01, where the ionized impurity scattering crosses over to mixed ionized impurity and acoustic phonon scattering. A significant improvement in Hall mobility from ∼16 to ∼81 cm²·V⁻¹·s⁻1 is obtained, thus leading to a notably enhanced power factor of ∼13 μW·cm⁻¹·K⁻² from ∼5 μW·cm⁻¹·K⁻². A simultaneous reduction in thermal conductivity is also achieved. Collectively, a figure of merit (ZT) of ∼1.7 is obtained at 773 K in Mg_3.1Co_0.1Sb_1.5Bi_0.49Te_0.01. The concept of manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism to improve the mobility should also be applicable to other material systems.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	10548-10553
Number of pages	6
Journal	Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume	114
Issue number	40
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711725114
State	Published - Oct 3 2017

Funding

Department of Energy. The work performed at Tongji University is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grants 51422208 and 11474219). ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. The work performed at the University of Houston and the University of Missouri is supported by the Solid State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center, an Energy Frontier Research Center funded by the US Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences under Award DE-SC0001299, as well as by US Air Force Office of Scientific Research Grant FA9550-15-1-0236, the T. L. L. Temple Foundation, the John J. and Rebecca Moores Endowment, and the State of Texas through the Texas Center for Superconductivity at the University of Houston. Research conducted at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory’s High Flux Isotope Reactor was sponsored by the Scientific User Facilities Division, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, US

Keywords

Carrier scattering mechanism
Defects
Ionized impurity scattering
N-type MgSb
Thermoelectric

Access to Document

10.1073/pnas.1711725114

Cite this

Mao, J., Shuai, J., Song, S., Wu, Y., Dally, R., Zhou, J., Liu, Z., Sun, J., Zhang, Q., Dela Cruz, C., Wilson, S., Pei, Y., Singh, D. J., Chen, G., Chu, C. W., & Ren, Z. (2017). Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg₃Sb₂-based materials. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 114(40), 10548-10553. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711725114

@article{b726901babe44ae48b20139f88a78700,

title = "Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials",

abstract = "Achieving higher carrier mobility plays a pivotal role for obtaining potentially high thermoelectric performance. In principle, the carrier mobility is governed by the band structure as well as by the carrier scattering mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that by manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism in n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials, a substantial improvement in carrier mobility, and hence the power factor, can be achieved. In this work, Fe, Co, Hf, and Ta are doped on the Mg site of Mg3.2Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01, where the ionized impurity scattering crosses over to mixed ionized impurity and acoustic phonon scattering. A significant improvement in Hall mobility from ∼16 to ∼81 cm2·V−1·s−1 is obtained, thus leading to a notably enhanced power factor of ∼13 μW·cm−1·K−2 from ∼5 μW·cm−1·K−2. A simultaneous reduction in thermal conductivity is also achieved. Collectively, a figure of merit (ZT) of ∼1.7 is obtained at 773 K in Mg3.1Co0.1Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01. The concept of manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism to improve the mobility should also be applicable to other material systems.",

keywords = "Carrier scattering mechanism, Defects, Ionized impurity scattering, N-type MgSb, Thermoelectric",

author = "Jun Mao and Jing Shuai and Shaowei Song and Yixuan Wu and Rebecca Dally and Jiawei Zhou and Zihang Liu and Jifeng Sun and Qinyong Zhang and {Dela Cruz}, Clarina and Stephen Wilson and Yanzhong Pei and Singh, {David J.} and Gang Chen and Chu, {Ching Wu} and Zhifeng Ren",

year = "2017",

month = oct,

day = "3",

doi = "10.1073/pnas.1711725114",

language = "English",

volume = "114",

pages = "10548--10553",

journal = "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America",

issn = "0027-8424",

publisher = "National Academy of Sciences",

number = "40",

}

Mao, J, Shuai, J, Song, S, Wu, Y, Dally, R, Zhou, J, Liu, Z, Sun, J, Zhang, Q, Dela Cruz, C, Wilson, S, Pei, Y, Singh, DJ, Chen, G, Chu, CW & Ren, Z 2017, 'Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg₃Sb₂-based materials', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol. 114, no. 40, pp. 10548-10553. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1711725114

TY - JOUR

T1 - Manipulation of ionized impurity scattering for achieving high thermoelectric performance in n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials

AU - Mao, Jun

AU - Shuai, Jing

AU - Song, Shaowei

AU - Wu, Yixuan

AU - Dally, Rebecca

AU - Zhou, Jiawei

AU - Liu, Zihang

AU - Sun, Jifeng

AU - Zhang, Qinyong

AU - Dela Cruz, Clarina

AU - Wilson, Stephen

AU - Pei, Yanzhong

AU - Singh, David J.

AU - Chen, Gang

AU - Chu, Ching Wu

AU - Ren, Zhifeng

PY - 2017/10/3

Y1 - 2017/10/3

N2 - Achieving higher carrier mobility plays a pivotal role for obtaining potentially high thermoelectric performance. In principle, the carrier mobility is governed by the band structure as well as by the carrier scattering mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that by manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism in n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials, a substantial improvement in carrier mobility, and hence the power factor, can be achieved. In this work, Fe, Co, Hf, and Ta are doped on the Mg site of Mg3.2Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01, where the ionized impurity scattering crosses over to mixed ionized impurity and acoustic phonon scattering. A significant improvement in Hall mobility from ∼16 to ∼81 cm2·V−1·s−1 is obtained, thus leading to a notably enhanced power factor of ∼13 μW·cm−1·K−2 from ∼5 μW·cm−1·K−2. A simultaneous reduction in thermal conductivity is also achieved. Collectively, a figure of merit (ZT) of ∼1.7 is obtained at 773 K in Mg3.1Co0.1Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01. The concept of manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism to improve the mobility should also be applicable to other material systems.

AB - Achieving higher carrier mobility plays a pivotal role for obtaining potentially high thermoelectric performance. In principle, the carrier mobility is governed by the band structure as well as by the carrier scattering mechanism. Here, we demonstrate that by manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism in n-type Mg3Sb2-based materials, a substantial improvement in carrier mobility, and hence the power factor, can be achieved. In this work, Fe, Co, Hf, and Ta are doped on the Mg site of Mg3.2Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01, where the ionized impurity scattering crosses over to mixed ionized impurity and acoustic phonon scattering. A significant improvement in Hall mobility from ∼16 to ∼81 cm2·V−1·s−1 is obtained, thus leading to a notably enhanced power factor of ∼13 μW·cm−1·K−2 from ∼5 μW·cm−1·K−2. A simultaneous reduction in thermal conductivity is also achieved. Collectively, a figure of merit (ZT) of ∼1.7 is obtained at 773 K in Mg3.1Co0.1Sb1.5Bi0.49Te0.01. The concept of manipulating the carrier scattering mechanism to improve the mobility should also be applicable to other material systems.

KW - Carrier scattering mechanism

KW - Defects

KW - Ionized impurity scattering

KW - N-type MgSb

KW - Thermoelectric

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85030221179&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1073/pnas.1711725114

DO - 10.1073/pnas.1711725114

M3 - Article

C2 - 28923974

AN - SCOPUS:85030221179

SN - 0027-8424

VL - 114

SP - 10548

EP - 10553

JO - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

JF - Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

IS - 40

ER -