Aliovalent Dilute Doping and Nano‐Moiré Fringe Advance the Structural Stability and Thermoelectric Performance in β‐Zn4Sb3
Abstract Thermoelectric (TE) generators have come a long way since the first commercial apparatus launched in the 1950s. Since then, the β‐Zn4Sb3 has manifested its potential as a cost‐effective and environmentally friendly TE generator compared with the tellurium‐bearing TE materials. Although the...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Wiley
2022-09-01
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| Series: | Advanced Science |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202201802 |
| _version_ | 1797817474115174400 |
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| author | I‐Lun Jen Kuang‐Kuo Wang Hsin‐Jay Wu |
| author_facet | I‐Lun Jen Kuang‐Kuo Wang Hsin‐Jay Wu |
| author_sort | I‐Lun Jen |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Thermoelectric (TE) generators have come a long way since the first commercial apparatus launched in the 1950s. Since then, the β‐Zn4Sb3 has manifested its potential as a cost‐effective and environmentally friendly TE generator compared with the tellurium‐bearing TE materials. Although the β‐Zn4Sb3 features an intrinsically low thermal conductivity κ, it suffers from a long‐lasting structural instability issue arising from the highly mobile zinc ions. Herein, the dilute Ga dopant gives rise to the aliovalent substitution, lowers the mobile zinc ions, and optimizes the hole carrier concentration nH simultaneously. Meanwhile, the formation of nano‐moiré fringes suggests the modulated distribution of point defect that results from soluble Ga in a β‐Zn4Sb3 lattice, which elicits an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity κL = 0.2 W m−1 K−1 in a (Zn0.992Ga0.008)4Sb3 alloy. Hence, a fully dense β‐Zn4Sb3 incorporated with the dilute Ga doping reveals superior structural stability with a peak zT > 1.4 at 623 K. In this work, the aliovalent dilute doping coupled with phase diagram engineering optimizes the fluxes of moving electrons and charged ions, which stabilizes the single‐phase β‐Zn4Sb3 while boosting the TE performance at the mid‐temperature region. The synergistic strategies endow the ionic crystals with a thermodynamic route, which opens up a new category for high‐performance and thermal robust TE alloys. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T08:53:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-1688a99418184e7482284ee9cfcf89e9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2198-3844 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T08:53:58Z |
| publishDate | 2022-09-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Advanced Science |
| spelling | doaj.art-1688a99418184e7482284ee9cfcf89e92023-05-29T04:01:39ZengWileyAdvanced Science2198-38442022-09-01926n/an/a10.1002/advs.202201802Aliovalent Dilute Doping and Nano‐Moiré Fringe Advance the Structural Stability and Thermoelectric Performance in β‐Zn4Sb3I‐Lun Jen0Kuang‐Kuo Wang1Hsin‐Jay Wu2Department of Materials Science and Engineering National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Hsinchu 30010 TaiwanDepartment of Materials and Optoelectronic Science National Sun Yat‐sen University Kaohsiung 80424 TaiwanDepartment of Materials Science and Engineering National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Hsinchu 30010 TaiwanAbstract Thermoelectric (TE) generators have come a long way since the first commercial apparatus launched in the 1950s. Since then, the β‐Zn4Sb3 has manifested its potential as a cost‐effective and environmentally friendly TE generator compared with the tellurium‐bearing TE materials. Although the β‐Zn4Sb3 features an intrinsically low thermal conductivity κ, it suffers from a long‐lasting structural instability issue arising from the highly mobile zinc ions. Herein, the dilute Ga dopant gives rise to the aliovalent substitution, lowers the mobile zinc ions, and optimizes the hole carrier concentration nH simultaneously. Meanwhile, the formation of nano‐moiré fringes suggests the modulated distribution of point defect that results from soluble Ga in a β‐Zn4Sb3 lattice, which elicits an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity κL = 0.2 W m−1 K−1 in a (Zn0.992Ga0.008)4Sb3 alloy. Hence, a fully dense β‐Zn4Sb3 incorporated with the dilute Ga doping reveals superior structural stability with a peak zT > 1.4 at 623 K. In this work, the aliovalent dilute doping coupled with phase diagram engineering optimizes the fluxes of moving electrons and charged ions, which stabilizes the single‐phase β‐Zn4Sb3 while boosting the TE performance at the mid‐temperature region. The synergistic strategies endow the ionic crystals with a thermodynamic route, which opens up a new category for high‐performance and thermal robust TE alloys.https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202201802β‐Zn4Sb3 thermoelectricsaliovalent dilute dopingfigure‐of‐merit (zT)nano‐moiré fringes |
| spellingShingle | I‐Lun Jen Kuang‐Kuo Wang Hsin‐Jay Wu Aliovalent Dilute Doping and Nano‐Moiré Fringe Advance the Structural Stability and Thermoelectric Performance in β‐Zn4Sb3 Advanced Science β‐Zn4Sb3 thermoelectrics aliovalent dilute doping figure‐of‐merit (zT) nano‐moiré fringes |
| title | Aliovalent Dilute Doping and Nano‐Moiré Fringe Advance the Structural Stability and Thermoelectric Performance in β‐Zn4Sb3 |
| title_full | Aliovalent Dilute Doping and Nano‐Moiré Fringe Advance the Structural Stability and Thermoelectric Performance in β‐Zn4Sb3 |
| title_fullStr | Aliovalent Dilute Doping and Nano‐Moiré Fringe Advance the Structural Stability and Thermoelectric Performance in β‐Zn4Sb3 |
| title_full_unstemmed | Aliovalent Dilute Doping and Nano‐Moiré Fringe Advance the Structural Stability and Thermoelectric Performance in β‐Zn4Sb3 |
| title_short | Aliovalent Dilute Doping and Nano‐Moiré Fringe Advance the Structural Stability and Thermoelectric Performance in β‐Zn4Sb3 |
| title_sort | aliovalent dilute doping and nano moire fringe advance the structural stability and thermoelectric performance in β zn4sb3 |
| topic | β‐Zn4Sb3 thermoelectrics aliovalent dilute doping figure‐of‐merit (zT) nano‐moiré fringes |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/advs.202201802 |
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