Abstract
In this study, the effects of three different types of doping elements on the thermoelectric properties, mechanical properties and thermal stability of Zr0.95A0.05NiSn (A = p-type dopant: Sc; isoelectronic dopants: Zr, Ti and Hf; n-type dopants: V, Nb and Ta) were systematically investigated. The sample was prepared by smelting multiple magnetic suspensions in combination with the spark plasma sintering method. X-ray diffraction analysis and scanning electron microscopy observations showed that nearly single-phase half-Heusler compounds were obtained for the levitation-melted ingots. The results demonstrate that p-type doping causes the semiconductor behavior of this material to change from n type to p type, resulting in poor thermoelectric properties. The mass fluctuations and stress fluctuations introduced by the isoelectronic doping cause the thermal conductivity to decrease, and n-type dopants increase the carrier concentration of the material, resulting in an increase in its power factor. On this basis, the ZTmax value of the Zr0.95M0.05NiSn (M = Ti0.25Hf0.25Nb0.25V0.25) sample reached 0.76, which is 58% higher than that of ZrNiSn within the measurement temperature range. In addition, all of the samples maintained excellent mechanical properties, and their microhardness (HV) was greater than 900; no significant endothermic or exothermic phenomenon of all these samples was observed from room temperature to 700 °C, confirming their good thermal stability.
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Acknowledgements
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51701126 and 51571144) and the Shenzhen Science and Technology Research Grant (No. JCYJ20150827155136104).
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Gong, B., Liu, F., Zhu, J. et al. Effects of Sc, Ti, Hf, V, Nb and Ta doping on the properties of ZrNiSn alloys. J Mater Sci 54, 10325–10334 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03623-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03623-4