Transport Properties Study of ZnSb Compound Using BoltzTrap First-Principles

Abstract

In the last few years, materials that may have favorable thermoelectric properties have aroused great interest, because they have the ability to generate electricity through the thermoelectric effect. In this work, the temperature effect on the transport properties of a ZnSb compound having an orthorhombic structure is studied, using the local density approximation with the modified approach of Becke and Johnson (LDA + mBJ), within the framework of density functional theory (DFT). To do this, we use the BoltzTrap package implemented in the Wien2k code, with a constant relaxation time of the charge carriers. All transport properties were studied in the temperature range of 300 to 600 K. Moreover, for high temperatures, the prediction of the figure of merit of ZnSb indicates that the compound is much more suitable for thermoelectric devices. Also, the Pauli magnetic susceptibility of zinc antimonide showed that this material is non-magnetic.