Engineering Papers⌕ Search

SEARCH · Engineering Papers

Results for “thermopower”

Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

Quote a phrase for an exact phrase match. Source license links do not imply unrestricted reuse.

At least 19 records
All sourcesNASA NTRSDOE OSTI
DOE OSTI2024

Designing Spin‐Crossover Systems to Enhance Thermopower and Thermoelectric Figure‐of‐Merit in Paramagnetic Materials

Thermoelectric materials, capable of converting temperature gradients into electrical power, have been traditionally limited by a trade‐off between thermopower and electrical conductivity. This study introduces a novel, broadly applicable approach that enhances both the spin‐driven thermopower and the thermoelectric figure‐of‐merit (zT) without compromising electrical conductivity, using temperature‐driven spin crossover. Our approach, supported by both theoretical and experimental evidence, is demonstrated through a case study of chromium doped‐manganese telluride, but is not confined to this material and can be extended to other magnetic materials. By introducing dopants to create a high crystal field and exploiting the entropy changes associated with temperature‐driven spin crossover, we achieved a significant increase in thermopower, by approximately 136 μV K −1 , representing more than a 200% enhancement at elevated temperatures within the paramagnetic domain. Our exploration of the bipolar semiconducting nature of these materials reveals that suppressing bipolar magnon/paramagnon‐drag thermopower is key to understanding and utilizing spin crossover‐driven thermopower. These findings, validated by inelastic neutron scattering, X‐ray photoemission spectroscopy, thermal transport, and energy conversion measurements, shed light on crucial material design parameters. We provide a comprehensive framework that analyzes the interplay between spin entropy, hopping transport, and magnon/paramagnon lifetimes, paving the way for the development of high‐performance spin‐driven thermoelectric materials.

magnons↗
DOE OSTI2023

High-frequency phonons drive large phonon-drag thermopower in semiconductors at high carrier density

It has been well established that (i) the thermopower of semiconductors can be enhanced through a phe- nomenon known as the drag effect, and (ii) the drag enhancement involves only low-frequency acoustic phonons and benefits from low electron densities and low temperatures. Using first-principles calculations we show that large drag enhancements to the thermopower are possible at high carrier density even at room temperature and arise from high-frequency acoustic phonons. A fascinating example is cubic boron arsenide (BAs) for which the calculated room temperature drag enhancement of the thermopower exceeds an order of magnitude at a high hole density of 10 21 cm –3 . This remarkable behavior stems from the simultaneously weak phonon-phonon and phonon-hole scattering of the high-frequency phonons in BAs that become drag active at high carrier densities through electron-phonon interactions. Furthermore, this work advances our understanding of coupled electron-phonon nanoscale transport and introduces an unexpected paradigm for achieving large thermopowers.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2022

Colossal phonon drag enhanced thermopower in lightly doped diamond

Diamond is one of the most studied materials because of its unique combination of remarkable electrical, mechanical, thermal and optical properties. Using a fully self-consistent ab initio theory of coupled electron-phonon transport, we reveal another striking behavior: a huge drag enhancement of the thermopower of lightly doped diamond. Thermopower values of around 100,000 μV K –1 are found at 100 K, significantly exceeding the highest previously measured value in the correlated metal FeSb 2 , and occurring at much higher temperatures. The enormous thermopower in diamond arises primarily from exceptionally weak anharmonic phonon decay around and below 100 K that facilitates efficient momentum exchange between charge carriers and phonons through electron-phonon interactions. Exceedingly large thermoelectric power factors are also identified. Furthermore, this work gives insights into the physics of the coupled electron-phonon system in solids and advances our understanding of thermoelectric transport in the regime of strong drag.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2021

Vacancy defect control of colossal thermopower in FeSb2

Abstract Iron diantimonide is a material with the highest known thermoelectric power. By combining scanning transmission electron microscopic study with electronic transport neutron, X-ray scattering, and first principle calculation, we identify atomic defects that control colossal thermopower magnitude and nanoprecipitate clusters with Sb vacancy ordering, which induce additional phonon scattering and substantially reduce thermal conductivity. Defects are found to cause rather weak but important monoclinic distortion of the unit cell P n n m → P m . The absence of Sb along [010] for high defect concentration forms conducting path due to Fe d orbital overlap. The connection between atomic defect anisotropy and colossal thermopower in FeSb 2 paves the way for the understanding and tailoring of giant thermopower in related materials.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Quantitative assessment of the universal thermopower in the Hubbard model

As primarily an electronic observable, the room-temperature thermopower S in cuprates provides possibilities for a quantitative assessment of the Hubbard model. Using determinant quantum Monte Carlo, we demonstrate agreement between Hubbard model calculations and experimentally measured room-temperature S across multiple cuprate families, both qualitatively in terms of the doping dependence and quantitatively in terms of magnitude. We observe an upturn in S with decreasing temperatures, which possesses a slope comparable to that observed experimentally in cuprates. From our calculations, the doping at which S changes sign occurs in close proximity to a vanishing temperature dependence of the chemical potential at fixed density. Our results emphasize the importance of interaction effects in the systematic assessment of the thermopower S in cuprates.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2025

Large non-saturating Nernst thermopower and magnetoresistance in compensated semimetal ScSb

Today, high-performance thermoelectric and thermomagnetic materials operating in the low-temperature regime, particularly below the boiling point of liquid nitrogen remain scarce. Most thermomagnetic materials reported to date exhibit a strong Nernst signal along specific crystallographic directions in their single-crystal form. However, their performance typically degrades significantly in the polycrystalline form. Here, we report an improved Nernst thermopower of ~ 128 μV/K at 30 K and 14 T in polycrystalline compensated semimetal ScSb, in comparison to that was observed in single crystal ScSb previously. The magnetic field dependence of Nernst thermopower shows a linear and non-saturating behavior up to 14 T. The maximum Nernst power factor reaches to ~ 240 x 10 -4 W m −1 K −2 and Nernst figure of merit reaches to ~ 11 x 10 -4 K −1 . Polycrystalline ScSb also shows a large non-saturating magnetoresistance of ~ 940% at 2 K and 14 T. These enhanced properties originate from better electron–hole compensation, as revealed by Hall resistivity measurements. In conclusion, the cubic symmetry and absence of anisotropy in ScSb allow its polycrystalline form to achieve similar enhanced thermomagnetic and electromagnetic performance comparable to that of the single crystal.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2021

Optimal carrier concentration for FeSb 2 colossal thermopower

Crystals of FeSb 2 correlated narrow-gap semiconductor host colossal thermopower values. By tuning the impurity level here, we demonstrate that electron-phonon scattering that transfers phonon momentum to electrons is efficient only for certain optimal carrier concentration in the low-mobility band. Phonon drag acting on such states in crystals with high phonon mean free path enhances thermopower to colossal values, whereas for different carrier concentration, dominant thermal transport mechanism is electronic diffusion. This highlights the dual nature of correlated in-gap states that take part in the phonon drag but also reduce phonon mean free path.

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND↗
DOE OSTI2023

Intrinsic Berry curvature driven anomalous Nernst thermopower in the semimetallic Heusler alloy CoFeVSb

Understanding of spin-heat coupling mechanisms and magnetothermoelectric phenomena, including the anomalous Nernst effect (ANE), in emergent quaternary Heusler alloys is of practical importance for applications in thermal management and energy harvesting. Here, we demonstrate an intrinsic Berry curvature mediated anomalous Nernst thermopower in CoFeVSb, which orders magnetically at high temperature ( T C ≈ 850 K ) with a large saturation magnetization of ≈ 2.2 μ B / f . u . at room temperature. We show that the electron-electron elastic and electron-magnon inelastic scattering dominate longitudinal electrical transport at low temperatures ( T ≤ 50 K ), whereas the electron-phonon and electron-magnon scatterings govern it at higher T . The longitudinal thermopower is resulted mainly from the diffusive contribution with a very large longitudinal Seebeck coefficient ( 42 μ V K - 1 at 395 K). The value of the anomalous Nernst coefficient ( S ANE ) for CoFeVSb at room temperature is 0.039 μ V K - 1 which is higher than the compressively strained SrRu O 3 film ( 0.03 μ V K - 1 ) as well as the spin gapless semiconductor CoFeCrGa ( 0.018 μ V K - 1 ). On lowering T , both the ordinary Nernst coefficient and carrier mobility increase but an opposite trend is found for S ANE . Our ab initio simulations reveal the topological semimetallic nature of CoFeVSb with a pair of Weyl points. These Weyl crossings result in a significant contribution to the Berry curvature, leading to an intrinsic anomalous Hall conductivity ( σ x y AHE ) of ≈ 85 S/cm, which matches well with experiment (77 S/cm at 2 K). Our experimental findings and ab initio calculations support the dominance of the intrinsic Berry curvature in the observed ANE. The ratio of σ x y AHE to the transverse anomalous thermoelectric conductivity ( α x y ANE ) shows an increasing trend with T attaining a sizable fraction of k B e ( ≈ 0.35 k B e ) at room temperature.

36 MATERIALS SCIENCE↗
DOE OSTI2020

Room‐Temperature Skyrmion Thermopower in Fe 3 Sn 2

Abstract We present the room‐temperature thermoelectric signature of skyrmion bubbles. This is observed in Fe 3 Sn 2 , a Kagome Dirac crystal with massive Dirac fermions that features a high‐temperature skyrmion phase. The room‐temperature skyrmion bubbles show magnetic‐field dependence of the wavevector whereas the thermopower is dominated by the electronic diffusion mechanism, allowing for the skyrmionic bubble detection. The results pave the way for future skyrmion‐based devices based on the manipulation of the thermal gradient.

Du, Qianheng↗
DOE OSTI2020

Synthesis and structural characterization of the new Zintl phases Ba 3 Cd 2 P 4 and Ba 2 Cd 2 P 3 . Rare example of small gap semiconducting behavior with negative thermopower within the range 300 K-700 K

The new Zintl phases Ba 3 Cd 2 P 4 and Ba 2 Cd 2 P 3 have been synthesized using Pb flux, which allowed for the growth of 4-5 mm large crystals. The structures were determined utilizing single-crystal X-ray diffraction methods. Both compounds crystalize in the monoclinic crystal system (space group C2/m (No. 12)) and their structures are closely related. The structure of Ba 3 Cd 2 P 4 can be seen as being comprised of divalent Ba atoms and conjoined CdP 4 tetrahedra in the form of [Cd 2 P 4 ] 6- layers. Within the layers, homoatomic P–P bonds are present, which if cleaved, leave two infinite [CdP 3 ] 7- chains running along the crystallographic b-axis. The other structure, that of Ba 2 Cd 2 P 3 , can be rationalized as also having divalent Ba atoms and conjoined CdP4 tetrahedra in the form of [Cd 2 P 3 ] 6- layers. These layers, again, can be visualized as chains that run down the crystallographic b-axis, which are further connected by P-P dimers. Electronic band structure calculations show that each structure has an optimal number of valence electrons, and therefore conform to the Zintl-Klemm concept. Accordingly, the two compounds can be considered small band gap semiconductors, with band gaps of ca. 0.1 eV and 0.6 eV for Ba3Cd2P4 and Ba 2 Cd 2 P 3 , respectively. Electrical resistivity measurements show that Ba3Cd2P4 displays a large resistivity value at room temperature and an experimental band gap of ca. 0.05 eV, which fits reasonably well with the theoretical predictions. Thermopower measurements show that throughout the temperature range 300 K-700 K, Ba 3 Cd 2 P 4 displays a negative Seebeck coefficient. Here, the extremum value of -84 μV is reached at 630 K, suggestive of an n-type semiconductor, a rarity among Zintl phases.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2021

Simultaneous enhancements of thermopower and electrical conductivity in quasi-one-dimensional α -YbAlB 4 single crystal

We report the thermoelectric properties of valence fluctuating material α-YbAlB 4 along a-, b-, and c-axes. The temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient for all axes shows negative peaks at around 250 K, which is close to the Kondo scale. Interestingly, the absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient along c-axis (-7 μV K -1 at 250 K) is larger than those along a- and b-axes (-50 μV K -1 at 250 K) although the electrical resistivity along c-axis is about four times lower than those along a- and b-axes. As a result, a very large thermoelectric power factor of ~14.5 mW m -1 K -2 is realized along c-axis at 200 K, which is ten times larger than those along a- and b-axes. The anisotropies in electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient, respectively, have different origins of Fermi surface and the c-f hybridization, realizing the simultaneous enhancements of thermopower and electrical conductivity.

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSIC↗
DOE OSTI2020

High Thermopower in a Zn-Based 3D Semiconductive Metal–Organic Framework

Conductive metal–organic frameworks (c-MOFs) have drawn increasing attention for their outstanding performance in energy-related applications. However, the majority of reported c-MOFs are based on 2D structures. Synthetic strategies for 3D c-MOFs are under-explored, leaving unrealized functionality in both their structures and properties. Here in this paper we report a 3D c-MOF, namely Zn-HAB, designed through topological analysis. Comprising a nitrogen donor linker, hexaaminobenzene, and Zn(II) node, Zn-HAB was found to have microporosity with a band-gap of approximately 1.68 eV. The relatively large band-gap results in a modest conduc-tivity of 0.86 mS cm -1 and a high Seebeck coefficient of 200 μV K -1 at 300 K. The power factor of 3.44 nW m -1 K -2 constitutes the first report of the thermoelectric properties of an intrinsically conductive 3D MOF.

37 INORGANIC, ORGANIC, PHYSICAL, AND ANALYTICAL CH↗
DOE OSTI2020

Record thermopower found in an IrMn-based spintronic stack

The Seebeck effect converts thermal gradients into electricity. As an approach to power technologies in the current Internet-of-Things era, on-chip energy harvesting is highly attractive, and to be effective, demands thin film materials with large Seebeck coefficients. In spintronics, the antiferromagnetic metal IrMn has been used as the pinning layer in magnetic tunnel junctions that form building blocks for magnetic random access memories and magnetic sensors. Spin pumping experiments revealed that IrMn Néel temperature is thickness-dependent and approaches room temperature when the layer is thin. Here, we report that the Seebeck coefficient is maximum at the Néel temperature of IrMn of 0.6 to 4.0 nm in thickness in IrMn-based half magnetic tunnel junctions. We obtain a record Seebeck coefficient 390 (±10) μV K -1 at room temperature. Our results demonstrate that IrMn-based magnetic devices could harvest the heat dissipation for magnetic sensors, thus contributing to the Power-of-Things paradigm.

42 ENGINEERING↗