Structure and Failure Mechanism of the Thermoelectric CoSb<sub>3</sub>/TiCoSb Interface

Li, Guodong; Hao, Shiqiang; Aydemir, Umut; Wood, Max; Goddard, William A.; Zhai, Pengcheng; Zhang, Qingjie; Snyder, G. Jeffrey

doi:10.1021/acsami.6b07320

Cited by 15 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 42 publications

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“…In order to prevent the diffusion between the skutterudite TE material and the electrode and to release the stress at the joint, an intermediate layer or a barrier layer is usually employed between them. Some attempts [ [224][225][226][227][228][229][230][231][232][233][234][235][236] have been made to join TE materials onto different electrodes (such as Mo-Cu alloys [225,229,236], Ag-Cu [233], Cu [235]) with different barrier layers or intermediate layer (such as Cr-Si alloys [225], Ti-Al alloys [227], Ni [228], Ti [229,230], TiCoSb [231], ZrO 2 /Ti [232], Co [233], Al-Ni [234], Fe-Ni [237]) in recent years. The lower contact resistance, stable interface, and high mechanical properties of the device can be obtained by selecting the appropriate electrode and barrier layers to connect with the CoSb 3 -based material.…”

Section: Cosb 3 -Based Te Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of CoSb3-based skutterudite thermoelectric materials

et al. 2020

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The binary skutterudite CoSb3 is a narrow bandgap semiconductor thermoelectric (TE) material with a relatively flat band structure and excellent electrical performance. However, thermal conductivity is very high because of the covalent bond between Co and Sb, resulting in a very low ZT value. Therefore, researchers have been trying to reduce its thermal conductivity by the different optimization methods. In addition, the synergistic optimization of the electrical and thermal transport parameters is also a key to improve the ZT value of CoSb3 material because the electrical and thermal transport parameters of TE materials are closely related to each other by the band structure and scattering mechanism. This review summarizes the main research progress in recent years to reduce the thermal conductivity of CoSb3-based materials at atomic-molecular scale and nano-mesoscopic scale. We also provide a simple summary of achievements made in recent studies on the non-equilibrium preparation technologies of CoSb3-based materials and synergistic optimization of the electrical and thermal transport parameters. In addition, the research progress of CoSb3-based TE devices in recent years is also briefly discussed.

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Section: Cosb 3 -Based Te Devicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A review of CoSb3-based skutterudite thermoelectric materials

et al. 2020

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“…In a previous study, it was demonstrated that the growth of the IMC layer was significant in the case of Ti metallization for SKD materials due to the mutual diffusion of Ti and Sb. 43 Figure 2 shows EDS line-scan images of Ti/SKD and Ti/ ITO/SKD structures before and after thermal aging. The initial thickness of the IMC layer at the interface between Ti and both n-and p-type SKD was 10.82 and 6.03 μm, respectively (Figure 2a,b).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These observed values are enormously low compared to those reported in previous studies. 37,43 After thermal aging, the specific contact resistance of the Ti/SKD structure increased to 10.98 and 8.50 μΩ•cm 2 for n-and p-type SKD, respectively. This can be attributed to the characteristics of Ti metallization; the IMC layer becomes porous and is pulverized as thermal aging progresses.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…To evaluate the performance of the ITO diffusion barrier, Ti metallization with and without ITO diffusion barrier was investigated at the same time, as shown in Figure . In a previous study, it was demonstrated that the growth of the IMC layer was significant in the case of Ti metallization for SKD materials due to the mutual diffusion of Ti and Sb …”

Section: Results and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Development of Indium-Tin Oxide Diffusion Barrier for Attaining High Reliability of Skutterudite Modules

Kim

Lee

Yoon

et al. 2020

ACS Appl. Energy Mater.

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Thermoelectric (TE) modules that operate at an intermediate-temperature range (600−900 K) inevitably face reliability issues during their operation when subjected to prolonged thermal cycling or due to the aging of the materials. To maintain the sustained performance of TE modules, antiaging techniques such as antioxidation coating and vacuum packaging are necessary. Metallization is one of the key technologies for fabricating highly reliable TE modules because the resulting metal layer can serve as a diffusion barrier preventing an elemental diffusion. Herein, indium-tin oxide (ITO) was investigated as a diffusion barrier for skutterudite (SKD); the compound has high conductivity compared to other oxides and low reactivity compared to metals. Ti/ITO/SKD-structured TE legs were fabricated by co-sintering using a spark plasma sintering system. The ITO layer was found to considerably suppress elemental diffusion by forming Ti−O bonding at the interface. The electrical contact resistance was also maintained at a low level both before and after the thermal aging. An eight-couple TE module was used to verify the reliability of the as-synthesized SKD module. The maximum power density of the Ti/ITO/SKD module was found to be approximately 1 W/cm 2 . A thermal cycling test, run for 500 cycles, was conducted for both Ti/SKD and Ti/ITO/SKD structures. It confirmed that the power output of the Ti/ITO/SKD-structured module is maintained, while the power output of the Ti/SKD-structured module decreased 1% after the thermal cycling. In conclusion, the as-developed TE module, owing to its high durability and reliability, was successfully fabricated.

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“…The detailed simulation setups are consistent with our previous published work on other important TE materials. [25][26][27]…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Grain Boundaries Softening Thermoelectric Oxide BiCuSeO

Hao

Zhai

et al. 2018

ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces

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Engineering grain boundaries (GBs) are effective in tuning the thermoelectric (TE) properties of TE materials, but the role of GB on mechanical properties, which is important for their commercial applications, remains unexplored. In this paper, we apply ab initio method to examine the ideal shear strength and failure mechanism of GBs in TE oxide BiCuSeO. We find that the ideal shear strength of the GB is much lower than that of the ideal single crystal. The atomic rearrangements accommodating the lattice and neighbor structure mismatch between different grains leads to the much weaker GB stiffness compared with grains. Failure of the GBs arises from either the distortion of the Cu-Se layers or the relative slip between Bi-O and Cu-Se layers. This work is crucial to illustrate the deformation of GBs, laying the basis for the development and design of mechanically robust polycrystalline TE materials.

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Structure and Failure Mechanism of the Thermoelectric CoSb₃/TiCoSb Interface

Cited by 15 publications

References 42 publications

A review of CoSb3-based skutterudite thermoelectric materials

A review of CoSb3-based skutterudite thermoelectric materials

Development of Indium-Tin Oxide Diffusion Barrier for Attaining High Reliability of Skutterudite Modules

Grain Boundaries Softening Thermoelectric Oxide BiCuSeO

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Structure and Failure Mechanism of the Thermoelectric CoSb3/TiCoSb Interface

Cited by 15 publications

References 42 publications

A review of CoSb3-based skutterudite thermoelectric materials

A review of CoSb3-based skutterudite thermoelectric materials

Development of Indium-Tin Oxide Diffusion Barrier for Attaining High Reliability of Skutterudite Modules

Grain Boundaries Softening Thermoelectric Oxide BiCuSeO

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Structure and Failure Mechanism of the Thermoelectric CoSb₃/TiCoSb Interface