Half-Heusler alloys are thermoelectric materials that enable direct conversion of waste heat to electricity. A systematic study of these alloys has never been attempted using local Gaussian type orbitals (GTOs) and hybrid density functional theory methods within a periodic approach. In this work, we study the thermoelectric properties of TiMSn (M = Ni, Pd, and Pt) alloys with space group F4¯ 3m using the CRYSTAL code. We, first, set benchmarks for TiNiSn by comparing our data to existing literature values of Seebeck coefficient, power-factor, and thermoelectric figure-of-merit. Our results agree well. We, then, extend these calculations to TiPdSn and TiPtSn, for which consistent previous data are limited. Our computations show that all TiMSn (M = Ni, Pd, and Pt) alloys prefer p-type carriers and exhibit a figure-of-merit of ≈1 at a chosen carrier concentration and temperature. In addition, we aim to explain the low band-gap of TiNiSn by modeling defects in the pure system. Our defect model proves to have a smaller band-gap, and its power-factor is found to be almost twice of the pure TiNiSn.

Key Role of Defects in Thermoelectric Performance of TiMSn (M = Ni, Pd, and Pt) Half-Heusler Alloys

Dasmahapatra A.;Daga L. E.;Karttunen A. J.;Maschio L.
;
Casassa S.
2020-01-01

Abstract

Half-Heusler alloys are thermoelectric materials that enable direct conversion of waste heat to electricity. A systematic study of these alloys has never been attempted using local Gaussian type orbitals (GTOs) and hybrid density functional theory methods within a periodic approach. In this work, we study the thermoelectric properties of TiMSn (M = Ni, Pd, and Pt) alloys with space group F4¯ 3m using the CRYSTAL code. We, first, set benchmarks for TiNiSn by comparing our data to existing literature values of Seebeck coefficient, power-factor, and thermoelectric figure-of-merit. Our results agree well. We, then, extend these calculations to TiPdSn and TiPtSn, for which consistent previous data are limited. Our computations show that all TiMSn (M = Ni, Pd, and Pt) alloys prefer p-type carriers and exhibit a figure-of-merit of ≈1 at a chosen carrier concentration and temperature. In addition, we aim to explain the low band-gap of TiNiSn by modeling defects in the pure system. Our defect model proves to have a smaller band-gap, and its power-factor is found to be almost twice of the pure TiNiSn.
2020
124
28
14997
15006
Dasmahapatra A.; Daga L.E.; Karttunen A.J.; Maschio L.; Casassa S.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/2318/1766404
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