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 language | English |
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Article number | 104771 |
Journal | Nano Energy |
Volume | 73 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jul 2020 |
Externally published | Yes |
Keywords
- Carrier mobility
- EuZnSb
- Intrinsic vacancies
- Thermoelectric
- Zintl phase