Fine control of lattice thermal conductivity in low-dimensional materials

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Cammarata ◽  
Tomas Polcar
2001 ◽  
Vol 691 ◽  
Author(s):  
Terry M. Tritt

ABSTRACTRecently, there has been a renewed interest in thermoelectric material research. There are a number of different systems of potential thermoelectric (TE) materials that are under investigation by various research groups. Some of these research efforts focus on minimizing lattice thermal conductivity while other efforts focus on materials that exhibit large power factors. An overview of some of the requirements and strategies for the investigation and optimization of a new system of materials for potential thermoelectric applications will be discussed. Some of the newer concepts such as low-dimensional systems and Slack's phononglass, electron-crystal concept will be discussed. Current strategies for minimizing lattice thermal conductivity and also minimum requirements for thermopower will be presented. The emphasis of this paper will be to identify some of the more recent promising bulk materials and discuss the challenges and issues related to each. This paper is targeted more at “newcomers” to the field and does not discuss some of the very interesting results that are being reported in the thin film and superlattice materials. Some of the bulk materials which will be discussed include complex chalcogenides (e.g.CsBi4Te6 and pentatellurides such as the Zr1−XHfXTe5 system), half-Heusler alloys (e.g. TiNiSn1−XSbX), ceramic oxides (NaCo4O2), skutterudites (e.g. YbXCo4−XSb12 or EuXCo4−XSb12) and clathrates (e.g. Sr8Ga16Ge30). Each of these systems is distinctly different yet each exhibits some prospect as a potential thermoelectric material. Results will be presented and discussed on each system of materials.


2010 ◽  
Vol 150 (29-30) ◽  
pp. 1299-1302 ◽  
Author(s):  
B.M. Zawilski ◽  
R.T. Littleton IV ◽  
N.D. Lowhorn ◽  
T.M. Tritt

Author(s):  
Xiao Yang ◽  
Xinghua Zheng ◽  
Zheng Yang ◽  
Liang Wang ◽  
Haisheng Chen

Abstract Due to the small size of low-dimensional materials, traditional experimental methods can hardly meet the requirements of accurate measurement. This paper presented a method for measuring the thermal conductivity of low-dimensional materials based on DC heating. This method adopted a micro-machining process to prepare a measuring electrode in advance, and only needed to suspend the object (one-dimensional wire or two-dimensional film) on the electrodes and maintain close contact. Finally, a standard diameter of 20 μm platinum wire was used to verify the measurement accuracy of this method. The application and future development of thermal conductivity testing structures for low-dimensional materials were also prospected.


2000 ◽  
Vol 626 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Beyer ◽  
Joachim Nurnus ◽  
Harald Böttner ◽  
Armin Lambrecht ◽  
Lothar Schmitt ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTThermoelectric properties of low dimensional structures based on PbTe/PbSrTe-multiple quantum-well (MQW)-structures with regard to the structural dimensions, doping profiles and levels are presented. Interband transition energies and barrier band-gap are determined from IR-transmission spectra and compared with Kronig-Penney calculations. The influence of the data evaluation method to obtain the 2D power factor will be discussed. The thermoelectrical data of our layers show a more modest enhancement in the power factor σS2 compared with former publications and are in good agreement with calculated data from Broido et al. [5]. The maximum allowed doping level for modulation doped MQW structures is determined. Thermal conductivity measurements show that a ZT enhancement can be achieved by reducing the thermal conductivity due to interface scattering. Additionally promising lead chalcogenide based superlattices for an increased 3D figure of merit are presented.


2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 602-609
Author(s):  
Adil H. Awad

Introduction: A new approach for expressing the lattice thermal conductivity of diatomic nanoscale materials is developed. Methods: The lattice thermal conductivity of two samples of GaAs nanobeam at 4-100K is calculated on the basis of monatomic dispersion relation. Phonons are scattered by nanobeam boundaries, point defects and other phonons via normal and Umklapp processes. Methods: A comparative study of the results of the present analysis and those obtained using Callaway formula is performed. We clearly demonstrate the importance of the utilised scattering mechanisms in lattice thermal conductivity by addressing the separate role of the phonon scattering relaxation rate. The formulas derived from the correction term are also presented, and their difference from Callaway model is evident. Furthermore their percentage contribution is sufficiently small to be neglected in calculating lattice thermal conductivity. Conclusion: Our model is successfully used to correlate the predicted lattice thermal conductivity with that of the experimental observation.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aastha Vasdev ◽  
Moinak Dutta ◽  
Shivam Mishra ◽  
Veerpal Kaur ◽  
Harleen Kaur ◽  
...  

AbstractA remarkable decrease in the lattice thermal conductivity and enhancement of thermoelectric figure of merit were recently observed in rock-salt cubic SnTe, when doped with germanium (Ge). Primarily, based on theoretical analysis, the decrease in lattice thermal conductivity was attributed to local ferroelectric fluctuations induced softening of the optical phonons which may strongly scatter the heat carrying acoustic phonons. Although the previous structural analysis indicated that the local ferroelectric transition temperature would be near room temperature in $${\text {Sn}}_{0.7}{\text {Ge}}_{0.3}{\text {Te}}$$ Sn 0.7 Ge 0.3 Te , a direct evidence of local ferroelectricity remained elusive. Here we report a direct evidence of local nanoscale ferroelectric domains and their switching in $${\text {Sn}}_{0.7}{\text {Ge}}_{0.3}{\text {Te}}$$ Sn 0.7 Ge 0.3 Te using piezoeresponse force microscopy(PFM) and switching spectroscopy over a range of temperatures near the room temperature. From temperature dependent (250–300 K) synchrotron X-ray pair distribution function (PDF) analysis, we show the presence of local off-centering distortion of Ge along the rhombohedral direction in global cubic $${\text {Sn}}_{0.7}{\text {Ge}}_{0.3}{\text {Te}}$$ Sn 0.7 Ge 0.3 Te . The length scale of the $${\text {Ge}}^{2+}$$ Ge 2 + off-centering is 0.25–0.10 Å near the room temperatures (250–300 K). This local emphatic behaviour of cation is the cause for the observed local ferroelectric instability, thereby low lattice thermal conductivity in $${\text {Sn}}_{0.7}{\text {Ge}}_{0.3}{\text {Te}}$$ Sn 0.7 Ge 0.3 Te .


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