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Research Article | Open Access

Planar Zintl-phase high-temperature thermoelectric materials XCuSb (X = Ca, Sr, Ba) with low lattice thermal conductivity

Sikang ZHENGa, Kunling PENGe, Shijuan XIAOa, Zizhen ZHOUa( ), Xu LUa, Guang HANc, Bin ZHANGa,d( ), Guoyu WANGb, Xiaoyuan ZHOUa,d( )
College of Physics and Center of Quantum Materials & Devices, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
Chongqing Institute of Green and Intelligent Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chongqing 400714, China
College of Materials Science and Engineering, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400045, China
Analytical and Testing Center, Chongqing University, Chongqing 401331, China
Interdisciplinary Center for Fundamental and Frontier Sciences, Nanjing University of Science and Technology, Jiangyin 214443, China
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Abstract

A recent discovery of high-performance Mg3Sb2 has ignited tremendous research activities in searching for novel Zintl-phase compounds as promising thermoelectric materials. Herein, a series of planar Zintl-phase XCuSb (X = Ca, Sr, Ba) thermoelectric materials are developed by vacuum induction melting. All these compounds exhibit high carrier mobilities and intrinsic low lattice thermal conductivities (below 1 W·m−1·K−1 at 1010 K), resulting in peak p-type zT values of 0.14, 0.30, and 0.48 for CaCuSb, SrCuSb, and BaCuSb, respectively. By using BaCuSb as a prototypical example, the origins of low lattice thermal conductivity are attributed to the strong interlayer vibrational anharmonicity of Cu–Sb honeycomb sublattice. Moreover, the first-principles calculations reveal that n-type BaCuSb can achieve superior thermoelectric performance with the peak zT beyond 1.1 because of larger conducting band degeneracy. This work sheds light on the high-temperature thermoelectric potential of planar Zintl compounds, thereby stimulating intense interest in the investigation of this unexplored material family for higher zT values.

Keywords

Zintl-phasethermoelectric materialshoneycomb latticeintrinsic low κL

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Journal of Advanced Ceramics
Volume 11 Issue 10,
October 2022
Pages 1604-1612
DOI: 10.1007/s40145-022-0634-y
Cite this article:
ZHENG S, PENG K, XIAO S, et al. Planar Zintl-phase high-temperature thermoelectric materials XCuSb (X = Ca, Sr, Ba) with low lattice thermal conductivity. Journal of Advanced Ceramics, 2022, 11(10): 1604-1612. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40145-022-0634-y

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Received: 27 April 2022
Revised: 23 June 2022
Accepted: 12 July 2022
Published: 15 September 2022
© The Author(s) 2022.

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