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An effective synthesis route for high-performance α-MgAgSb thermoelectric material

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Abstract

α-MgAgSb has been receiving attention as a thermoelectric material due to its high performance at 300–550 K. A MgAgSb sample synthesized by melting the constituent elements is known to contain secondary phases, which can be diminished by long-term heat treatment. However, less effort has been devoted to investigating the secondary phases and exploring an effective synthesis route to improve the sample purity. In this work, we showed that an as-melted sample comprised α-MgAgSb and large amounts of Ag3Sb and Mg4AgSb3. The secondary phases were successfully diminished/reacted through short-term ball milling and sintering processes. Secondary phases were further reduced by decreasing the starting Ag content, leading to the enhanced dimensionless figure of merit ZT of 0.4 at 300 K and 0.7 at 450 K. The synthesis route without long-term heat treatment is expected to contribute to efficient production of α-MgAgSb.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by a grant from JST CREST Grant Nos. JPMJCR16Q6 and JPMJCR20Q4.

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Author notes

  1. Katsuaki Hashikuni

    Present address: Department of Electrical Engineering, Sanyo-Onoda City University, Sanyo-Onoda, Yamaguchi, 756-0884, Japan

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Applied Science for Electronics and Materials, Interdisciplinary Graduate School of Engineering Sciences, Kyushu University, Kasuga, Fukuoka, 816-8580, Japan

    Keita Toh, Koichiro Suekuni, Katsuaki Hashikuni & Michitaka Ohtaki

  2. Transdisciplinary Research and Education Center for Green Technologies, Kyushu University Kasuga, Fukuoka, 816-8580, Japan

    Koichiro Suekuni & Michitaka Ohtaki

  3. Research Institute for Energy Conservation, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8568, Japan

    Hirotaka Nishiate, Ushin Anazawa & Chul-Ho Lee

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  1. Keita Toh
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Correspondence to Koichiro Suekuni.

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Toh, K., Suekuni, K., Hashikuni, K. et al. An effective synthesis route for high-performance α-MgAgSb thermoelectric material. J Mater Sci 57, 11265–11273 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-022-07306-5

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