Large thermoelectric power factor from crystal symmetry-protected non-bonding orbital in half-Heuslers
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s41467-018-03866-w.pdf
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Author(s)
Zhu, Hangtian
He, Ran
Mao, Jun
Liu, Zihang
Ren, Wuyang
Singh, David J.
Ren, Zhifeng
Zhou, Jiawei
Liu, Te Huan
Song, Qichen
Date Issued
April 2018
Journal
Nature Communications
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
Citation
Zhou, Jiawei, Hangtian Zhu, Te-Huan Liu, Qichen Song, Ran He, Jun Mao, Zihang Liu, et al. “Large Thermoelectric Power Factor from Crystal Symmetry-Protected Non-Bonding Orbital in Half-Heuslers.” Nature Communications 9, no. 1 (April 30, 2018).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Modern society relies on high charge mobility for efficient energy production and fast information technologies. The power factor of a material-the combination of electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient-measures its ability to extract electrical power from temperature differences. Recent advancements in thermoelectric materials have achieved enhanced Seebeck coefficient by manipulating the electronic band structure. However, this approach generally applies at relatively low conductivities, preventing the realization of exceptionally high-power factors. In contrast, half-Heusler semiconductors have been shown to break through that barrier in a way that could not be explained. Here, we show that symmetry-protected orbital interactions can steer electron-acoustic phonon interactions towards high mobility. This high-mobility regime enables large power factors in half-Heuslers, well above the maximum measured values. We anticipate that our understanding will spark new routes to search for better thermoelectric materials, and to discover high electron mobility semiconductors for electronic and photonic applications.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-03866-w
