Revelation of Inherently High Mobility Enables Mg 3Sb 2as a Sustainable Alternative to n‐Bi2 Te 3 Thermoelectrics

Date Published
06/2019
Publication Type
Journal Article
Authors
DOI
10.1002/advs.v6.1610.1002/advs.201802286
Abstract

Over the past years, thermoelectric Mg 3Sb 2 alloys particularly in n-type conduction, have attracted increasing attentions for thermoelectric applications, due to the multivalley conduction band, abundance of constituents, and less toxicity. However, the high vapor pressure, causticity of Mg, and the high melting point of Mg 3Sb 2 tend to cause the inclusion in the materials of boundary phases and defects that affect the transport properties. In this work, a utilization of tantalum-sealing for melting enables n-type Mg 3Sb 2 alloys to show a substantially higher mobility than ever reported, which can be attributed to the purification of phases and to the coarse grains. Importantly, the inherently high mobility successfully enables the thermoelectric figure of merit in optimal compositions to be highly competitive to that of commercially available n-type Bi 2Te 3 alloys and to be higher than that of other known n-type thermoelectrics at 300-500 K. This work reveals Mg 3Sb 2 alloys as a top candidate for near-room-temperature thermoelectric applications.

Journal
Advanced Science
Volume
6
Year of Publication
2019
Issue
16
Pagination
1802286
ISSN Number
2198-3844
Short Title
Adv. Sci.
Refereed Designation
Refereed
Organizations
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