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P-type doping of Hf0.6Zr0.4NiSn half-Heusler thermoelectric materials prepared by levitation melting and spark plasma sintering

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Abstract

The Y-doped (Hf0.6Zr0.4)1-xYxNiSn (x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.04, 0.06, 0.1, and 0.2) half-Heusler alloys have been prepared by levitation melting and spark plasma sintering. The effect of Y doping on thermoelectric properties of the alloys was investigated in the temperature range of 300–900 K. Y-doped samples had the lower electrical conductivity compared with the parent compound without Y doping. The thermal conductivity had weak dependence on Y doping content. The absolute values of Seebeck coefficient decreased significantly when x < 0.04. The sign of Seebeck coefficient turned from negative to positive at room temperature for x = 0.04 and 0.1, which means that the hole carriers became dominant in these alloys. However, the alloys changed to n-type conduction again at high temperatures. The maximum figure of merit value of about 0.45 was obtained at 780 K for the undoped sample.

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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

This work is financially supported by the Natural Science Foundation of China (50731006, 51061120455, and 50971115) and the National Basic Research Program of China (2007CB607502).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Kai Xiao, Tie-Jun Zhu, Cui Yu, Sheng-Hui Yang & Xin-Bing Zhao

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  1. Kai Xiao
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  2. Tie-Jun Zhu
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  3. Cui Yu
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Correspondence to Tie-Jun Zhu.

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Xiao, K., Zhu, TJ., Yu, C. et al. P-type doping of Hf0.6Zr0.4NiSn half-Heusler thermoelectric materials prepared by levitation melting and spark plasma sintering. Journal of Materials Research 26, 1913–1918 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2011.82

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