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Discovery of novel high-performance materials with earth-abundant and environmentally friendly elements is a key task for civil applications based on advanced thermoelectric technology. Advancements in this area are greatly limited by the traditional trial-and-error method, which is both time-consuming and expensive. The materials genome initiative can provide a powerful strategy to screen for potential novel materials using high-throughput calculations, materials characterization, and synthesis. In this study, we developed a modified diffusion-couple high-throughput synthesis method and an automated histogram analysis technique to quickly screen high-performance copper chalcogenide thermoelectric materials, which has been well demonstrated in the ternary Cu-Sn-S compounds. A new copper chalcogenide with the composition of Cu₇Sn₃S₁₀ was discovered. Studies on crystal structure, band gap, and electrical and thermal transport properties were performed to show that it is a promising thermoelectric material with ultralow lattice thermal conductivity, moderate band gap, and decent electrical conductivity. Via Cl doping, the thermoelectric dimensionless figure of merit zT reaches 0.8 at 750 K, being among the highest values reported in Cu-Sn-S ternary materials. The modified diffusion-couple high-throughput synthesis method and automated histogram analysis technique developed in this study also shed light on the development of other advanced thermoelectric and functional materials.

Deeper understanding of electrical and thermal transport is critical for further development of thermoelectric materials. Here we describe the thermoelectric performance of a group of rare-earth-bearing half-Heusler phases determined in a wide temperature range. Polycrystalline samples of ScNiSb, DyNiSb, ErNiSb, TmNiSb, and LuNiSb are synthesized by arc melting and densified by spark plasma sintering. They are characterized by powder x-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. The physical properties are studied by means of heat-capacity and Hall-effect measurements performed in the temperature range from 2 to 300 K, as well as electrical-resistivity, Seebeck-coefficient, and thermal-conductivity measurements performed in the temperature range from 2 to 950 K. All the materials except TmNiSb are found to be narrow-gap intrinsic p-type semiconductors with rather light charge carriers. In TmNiSb, the presence of heavy holes with large weighted mobility is evidenced by the highest power factor among the series (17 mu W K-²cm(-¹) at 700 K). The experimental electronic relaxation time calculated with the parabolic band formalism is found to range from 0.8 x 10(-¹⁴) to 2.8 x 10(-¹⁴) s. In all the materials studied, the thermal conductivity is between 3 and 6 W m(-¹) K-¹ near room temperature (i.e., smaller than in other pristine d-electron half-Heusler phases reported in the literature). The experimental observation of the reduced thermal conductivity appears fully consistent with the estimated low sound velocity as well as strong point-defect scattering revealed by Debye-Callaway modeling. Furthermore, analysis of the bipolar contribution to the measured thermal conductivity yields abnormally large differences between the mobilities of n-type and p-type carriers. The latter feature makes the compounds examined excellent candidates for further optimization of their thermoelectric performance via electron doping.

One of the key requirements for good thermoelectric materials is a low lattice thermal conductivity. Here we present a combined neutron scattering and theoretical investigation of the lattice dynamics in the type I clathrate system Ba-Ge-Ni, which fulfills this requirement. We observe a strong hybridization between phonons of the Ba guest atoms and acoustic phonons of the Ge-Ni host structure over a wide region of the Brillouin zone which is in contrast with the frequently adopted picture of isolated Ba atoms in Ge-Ni host cages. It occurs without a strong decrease of the acoustic phonon lifetime which contradicts the usual assumption of strong anharmonic phonon--phonon scattering processes. Within the framework of ab-intio density functional theory calculations we interpret these hybridizations as a series of an ti-crossings which act as a low pass filter, preventing the propagation of acoustic phonons. To highlight the effect of such a phononic low pass filter on the thermal transport, we compute the contribution of acoustic phonons to the thermal conductivity of Ba$_8$Ge$_{40}$Ni$_{6}$ and compare it to those of pure Ge and a Ge$_{46}$ empty-cage model system., 10 pages, 10 figures

The intermetallic compounds PdGa and Pd3Ga7 are introduced as selective catalysts for the hydrogenation of acetylene. Single phase PdGa and Pd3Ga7 can readily be prepared by the appropriate thermal treatment of the stoichiometric mixtures of the corresponding elements. The initial low surface areas of the as-prepared materials can be increased by careful mechanical treatment without decomposition. Detailed investigations of PdGa and Pd3Ga7 by DSC/TG, in situ powder X-ray diffraction and in situ X-ray absorption spectroscopy during thermal treatment under various inert or reactive gas atmospheres showed a high thermal stability. The long-range and short-range order in the crystal structures remained intact up to temperatures of about 600 K. Neither phase transitions nor decomposition were detectable. In addition to high thermal stability—preserving the active-site isolation under reaction conditions—no incorporation of hydrogen or carbon in the intermetallic compounds under reducing conditions was observed. Besides being interesting model systems, palladium–gallium intermetallic compounds are promising candidates for the application as highly selective hydrogenation catalysts.

A new concept for the development of catalysts is introduced. Utilizing ordered Pd-Ga intermetallic compounds high selectivity and long-term stability in the acetylene hydrogenation can be achieved. The high selectivity observed for all compounds (Pd3Ga7, PdGa, Pd2Ga) indicates that not only the surface geometric site isolation but also the suppression of hydride formation through a covalent bonding interaction absent in conventional Pd alloys are important for achieving superior catalytic properties. Our results demonstrate that structurally well-defined intermetallic compounds exhibit a high potential in heterogeneous catalysis and are promising candidates for industrial applications.

Physical review / B 72(2), 020402 (2005). doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.72.020402, Published by Inst., Woodbury, NY

Physical review / B 71(6), 060406 (2005). doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.71.060406, Published by Inst., Woodbury, NY

We report electron spin resonance (ESR) investigations of the clathrate compound Ba6-xEuxGe25 (x=0.03-0.4) which exhibits a temperature induced, two-step reconstructive structure transformation at temperatures between 185 K and 223 K. The linewidth of the Eu2+ ESR proves to be sensitive to the transformation. Another anomaly in the temperature dependence of the linewidth is found near T=60 K which points towards another possible structural transition. Both anomalies seen in the ESR linewidth are not sensitive to the Eu content in contrast to the strong Eu-concentration dependence of transport properties. © EDP Sciences, Società Italiana di Fisica, Springer-Verlag 2005.