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Effect of Composition Regulation on Thermoelectric Properties of Fe3Al2Si3-Based Compounds

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Abstract

Fe3Al2Si3-based thermoelectric materials have low production costs and are environmentally friendly. However, they are usually synthesized via arc-melting, resulting in poor compositional accuracy. Here, Fe36.5Al23.5 + xSi40−x (x = 1.7, 1.8, 1.9, 2.0, and 2.1) compounds with low thermal conductivity (κ) were prepared via levitation melting. The x = 2.1 composition may be the threshold for a p-to-n-type transformation. A minimum κ of ~3.17 W/mK was obtained in Fe36.5Al25.4Si38.1 at 323 K, a decrease of 42.3% relative to the parent Fe3Al2Si3 compound. Moreover, the largest maximum power factor of ~461 μW m−1 K−2 was obtained in Fe36.5Al25.4Si38.1 at 373 K. Using composition self-tuning, a peak figure of merit of ~0.055 was obtained in Fe36.5Al25.4Si38.1 at 423 K. This approach for realizing low κ and a high compositional accuracy should impact the development of advanced room-temperature thermoelectric materials with narrow bandgaps.

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Acknowledgments

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52271025, 51971052, 51927801, and 51834009) and the Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program (No. XLYC2007183).

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China, 52271025, Huijun Kang, 51971052, Huijun Kang, 51927801, Tongmin Wang, 51834009, Tongmin Wang, Liaoning Revitalization Talents Program, XLYC2007183, Huijun Kang.

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Li, M., Min, R., Chen, R. et al. Effect of Composition Regulation on Thermoelectric Properties of Fe3Al2Si3-Based Compounds. J. Electron. Mater. 53, 171–176 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-023-10746-7

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