Vacancy defect control of colossal thermopower in FeSb2

Abstract Iron diantimonide is a material with the highest known thermoelectric power. By combining scanning transmission electron microscopic study with electronic transport neutron, X-ray scattering, and first principle calculation, we identify atomic defects that control colossal thermopower magni...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Qianheng Du, Lijun Wu, Huibo Cao, Chang-Jong Kang, Christie Nelson, Gheorghe Lucian Pascut, Tiglet Besara, Theo Siegrist, Kristjan Haule, Gabriel Kotliar, Igor Zaliznyak, Yimei Zhu, Cedomir Petrovic
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Nature Portfolio 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/016f3f09c1e84476a9adb6f1c6655a4f
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Abstract Iron diantimonide is a material with the highest known thermoelectric power. By combining scanning transmission electron microscopic study with electronic transport neutron, X-ray scattering, and first principle calculation, we identify atomic defects that control colossal thermopower magnitude and nanoprecipitate clusters with Sb vacancy ordering, which induce additional phonon scattering and substantially reduce thermal conductivity. Defects are found to cause rather weak but important monoclinic distortion of the unit cell P n n m → P m. The absence of Sb along [010] for high defect concentration forms conducting path due to Fe d orbital overlap. The connection between atomic defect anisotropy and colossal thermopower in FeSb2 paves the way for the understanding and tailoring of giant thermopower in related materials.