Thermoelectric Properties of n-type ZrNiPb-Based Half-Heuslers

Abstract

Here we investigate the half-Heusler ZrNiPb as a n-type thermoelectric material. Our results show that the n-type ZrNiPb-based materials can achieve high peak power factors, ∼50 μW cm⁻¹ K⁻², by optimally tuning the carrier concentration via Bi doping. By further Sn-alloying in Pb site, we achieve a significant reduction of lattice thermal conductivity while maintaining the power factor almost unchanged and hence noticeably improve the ZT. Our work demonstrates that n-type ZrNiPb-based half-Heuslers are promising thermoelectric materials.