Manipulating the intrinsic vacancies for enhanced thermoelectric performance in Eu2ZnSb2 Zintl phase

Chen Chen, Xiaofang Li, Wenhua Xue, Fengxian Bai, Yifang Huang, Honghao Yao, Shan Li, Zongwei Zhang, Xinyu Wang, Jiehe Sui, Xingjun Liu, Feng Cao, Yumei Wang, Qian Zhang

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

34 Scopus citations

Abstract

Zintl compounds have caught great attention in thermoelectric applications due to their intrinsic “electron-crystal, phonon-glass” structures. Previous studies suggested that Zintl-phase Eu2ZnSb2 was a promising thermoelectric material due to its ultralow thermal conductivity. In this work, we used Ag to regulate the Zn–Sb framework for enhanced electrical properties, and prepared Eu2Zn1-0.5xAgxSb2 (x = 0.02, 0.06, and 0.1) by ball milling and spark plasma sintering. The additional Ag fills the initial vacancies and causes both increased carrier concentration and mobility. The maximum ZT reaches ~0.92 at 823 K for Eu2Zn0.97Ag0.06Sb2. By further reducing the Zn content, the carrier concentration increases close to the optimum value, and a peak ZT value of ~1.1 at 823 K was achieved for Eu2Zn0.95Ag0.06Sb2.

Original languageEnglish
Article number104771
JournalNano Energy
Volume73
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 2020
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Carrier mobility
  • EuZnSb
  • Intrinsic vacancies
  • Thermoelectric
  • Zintl phase

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