High thermoelectric performance in ZrNiSn through electron injection and boosting carrier mobility

Thermoelectric Performance Improvement in the ZrNiSn-Based Composite via Modulating Si Addition

“…To elucidate the charge carrier concentration arising in the samples at room temperature, the Si particles are first analyzed, and the results are presented in Table S2. Since the electron concentration in n0.1Si and p0.001Si in Table S2 is lower than ZrNiSn, and all the work function (W s ) values of Si are larger than those of ZrNiSn 6 in Table S3, it precludes the possibility of electron flow from Si to ZrNiSn during band alignment. From the XRD patterns in Figure S1 and EDS results in Figure 2a, semimetal ZrNiSi with high electrical conductivity may exist, 38 contributing to the increased carriers.…”

“…27,28 However, the Seebeck coefficient still decreases at high temperatures. 6 The semiconductors can also be selected but remain sparse in the ZrNiSn system investigation. Homotype compositing, such as n−n 29,30 and p−p, 31,32 is an efficient approach in facilitating the transport of majority charge carriers, thereby enhancing thermoelectric performance.…”

“…Thermoelectric materials enable them by converting heat into electricity and vice versa. − Thermoelectric performance is evaluated by the dimensionless figure of merit zT = S 2 σ T /κ, where S denotes the Seebeck coefficient, σ corresponds to the electrical conductivity (power factor is defined as S 2 σ), κ is the thermal conductivity, and T represents the temperature in Kelvin. ZrNiSn-based material is a representative n-type half Heusler (HH) thermoelectric compound, which shows significant promise for use in the mid- to high-temperature range . However, the thermoelectric performance of the material at high temperatures is hindered by the high thermal conductivity resulting from a simple cubic crystal structure as well as the low Seebeck coefficient caused by the narrow band gap generated bipolar transport. , …”

“…Preliminary investigations were carried out. They include synthesis method optimization, ,− chemical doping, − compositing, ,− porous structure, , etc. When the levitation melting (LM), self-propagating high-temperature synthesis (SHS), or annealing treatment provides homogeneous elemental distribution in ZrNiSn-based materials, high-energy ball milling (HEBM) or cryomilling contributes to the 40–50% thermal conductivity reduction due to the grain refinement.…”

Superhydrophobicity Mechanism and Nanoscale Profiling of PDMS-Modified Kaolinite Nanolayers via Ab Initio-MD Simulation and Atomic Force Microscopy Study

“…The surface hydrophobicity and its heterogeneity are fundamental physical and chemical properties of functional materials and environmental media. − However, the current research on the superhydrophobic mechanism of hydrophobic clay minerals is limited. The surface hydrophobicity is mainly characterized by traditional means, such as the macrowater/oil/bubble contact angle method based on the Young equation and scanning electron microscopy. , Due to the millimeter size of the water/oil/bubble droplets, this method can only analyze the macrolocal hydrophobicity of the surface and cannot explore the interaction between the clay mineral surface adsorbate and clay at the nanoscale and atomic levels.…”