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Thermoelectric and Structural Properties of Zr-/Hf-Based Half-Heusler Compounds Produced at a Large Scale

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Abstract

The half-Heusler (HH) systems are promising candidates for thermoelectric (TE) applications since they have shown high figures of merit (zT) of \(\sim \) 1, which are directly related to the energy conversion efficiency. To use HH compounds for TE devices, the materials must be phase-stable at operating temperatures up to \(600^{\circ }\)C. Currently, only a few HH compositions are available in large quantities. Hence, we focus on the TE and structural properties of three commercially available Zr-/Hf-based HH compounds in this publication. In particular, we evaluate the thermal conductivities and the figures of merit and critically discuss uncertainties and propagation error in the measurements. We find thermal conductivities of less than 6.0 \(\hbox {W K}^{-1}\hbox {m}^{-1}\) for all investigated materials and notably high figures of merit of 0.93 and 0.60 for n- and p-type compounds, respectively, at \(600^{\circ }\)C. Additionally, our investigations reveal that the grain structures of all materials also contain secondary phases like HfO2, Sn-Ni and Ti-Zr-Sn rich phases while an additional \(\hbox {SnO}_2\) phase was found following several hours of harsh heat treatment at \(800^{\circ }\)C.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Semiconductor Technologies (IHT), Technical University of Braunschweig, Hans-Sommer-Str. 66, 38106, Brunswick, Germany

    D. Zillmann, A. Waag & E. Peiner

  2. Volkswagen AG, Berliner Ring 2, 38440, Wolfsburg, Germany

    M.-H. Feyand

  3. SLM Kunststofftechnik GmbH, SLM-Str. 1, 39646, Oebisfelde, Germany

    A. Wolyniec

Authors
  1. D. Zillmann
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  2. A. Waag
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  3. E. Peiner
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  4. M.-H. Feyand
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  5. A. Wolyniec
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Correspondence to D. Zillmann.

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Zillmann, D., Waag, A., Peiner, E. et al. Thermoelectric and Structural Properties of Zr-/Hf-Based Half-Heusler Compounds Produced at a Large Scale . J. Electron. Mater. 47, 1546–1554 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-017-5917-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-017-5917-7

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