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    Discovery of TaFeSb-based half-Heuslers with high thermoelectric performance
    (London : Nature Publishing Group, 2019) Zhu, H.; Mao, J.; Li, Y.; Sun, J.; Wang, Y.; Zhu, Q.; Li, G.; Song, Q.; Zhou, J.; Fu, Y.; He, R.; Tong, T.; Liu, Z.; Ren, W.; You, L.; Wang, Z.; Luo, J.; Sotnikov, A.; Bao, J.; Nielsch, K.; Chen, G.; Singh, D.J.; Ren, Z.
    Discovery of thermoelectric materials has long been realized by the Edisonian trial and error approach. However, recent progress in theoretical calculations, including the ability to predict structures of unknown phases along with their thermodynamic stability and functional properties, has enabled the so-called inverse design approach. Compared to the traditional materials discovery, the inverse design approach has the potential to substantially reduce the experimental efforts needed to identify promising compounds with target functionalities. By adopting this approach, here we have discovered several unreported half-Heusler compounds. Among them, the p-type TaFeSb-based half-Heusler demonstrates a record high ZT of ~1.52 at 973 K. Additionally, an ultrahigh average ZT of ~0.93 between 300 and 973 K is achieved. Such an extraordinary thermoelectric performance is further verified by the heat-to-electricity conversion efficiency measurement and a high efficiency of ~11.4% is obtained. Our work demonstrates that the TaFeSb-based half-Heuslers are highly promising for thermoelectric power generation.
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    Thermoelectric properties of silicon and recycled silicon sawing waste
    (Peking : Chinese Ceramic Society, 2019) He, R.; Heyn, W.; Thiel, F.; Pérez, N.; Damm, C.; Pohl, D.; Rellinghaus, B.; Reimann, C.; Beier, M.; Friedrich, J.; Zhu, H.; Ren, Z.; Nielsch, K.; Schierning, G.
    Large-scale-applicable thermoelectric materials should be both self-sustaining, in order to survive long-term duty cycles, and nonpolluting. Among all classes of known thermoelectric materials, these criteria reduce the available candidate pool, leaving silicon as one of the remaining options. Here we first review the thermoelectric properties of various silicon-related materials with respect to their morphologies and microstructures. We then report the thermoelectric properties of silicon sawing wastes recycled from silicon wafer manufacturing. We obtain a high power factor of ∼32 μW cm−1 K−2 at 1273 K with 6% phosphorus substitution in the Si crystal, a value comparable to that of phosphorus-doped silicon-germanium alloys. Our work suggests the large-scale thermoelectric applicability of recycled silicon that would otherwise contribute to the millions of tons of industrial waste produced by the semiconductor industry.