Issue 40, 2015

Computational and experimental investigation of TmAgTe2 and XYZ2 compounds, a new group of thermoelectric materials identified by first-principles high-throughput screening

Abstract

A new group of thermoelectric materials, trigonal and tetragonal XYZ2 (X, Y: rare earth or transition metals, Z: group VI elements), the prototype of which is TmAgTe2, is identified by means of high-throughput computational screening and experiment. Based on density functional theory calculations, this group of materials is predicted to attain high zT (i.e. ∼1.8 for p-type trigonal TmAgTe2 at 600 K). Among approximately 500 chemical variants of XYZ2 explored, many candidates with good stability and favorable electronic band structures (with high band degeneracy leading to high power factor) are presented. Trigonal TmAgTe2 has been synthesized and exhibits an extremely low measured thermal conductivity of 0.2–0.3 W m−1 K−1 for T > 600 K. The zT value achieved thus far for p-type trigonal TmAgTe2 is approximately 0.35, and is limited by a low hole concentration (∼1017 cm−3 at room temperature). Defect calculations indicate that TmAg antisite defects are very likely to form and act as hole killers. Further defect engineering to reduce such XY antisites is deemed important to optimize the zT value of the p-type TmAgTe2.

Graphical abstract: Computational and experimental investigation of TmAgTe2 and XYZ2 compounds, a new group of thermoelectric materials identified by first-principles high-throughput screening

Associated articles

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
20 May 2015
Accepted
03 Aug 2015
First published
13 Aug 2015

J. Mater. Chem. C, 2015,3, 10554-10565

Computational and experimental investigation of TmAgTe2 and XYZ2 compounds, a new group of thermoelectric materials identified by first-principles high-throughput screening

H. Zhu, G. Hautier, U. Aydemir, Z. M. Gibbs, G. Li, S. Bajaj, J. Pöhls, D. Broberg, W. Chen, A. Jain, M. A. White, M. Asta, G. J. Snyder, K. Persson and G. Ceder, J. Mater. Chem. C, 2015, 3, 10554 DOI: 10.1039/C5TC01440A

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