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Now showing 1 - 4 of 4
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    Bicrystalline grain boundary junctions of Co-doped and P-doped Ba-122 thin films
    (Milton Park : Taylor & Francis, 2014) Schmidt, S.; Döring, S.; Schmidl, F.; Kurth, F.; Iida, K.; Holzapfel, B.; Kawaguchi, T.; Mori, Y.; Ikuta, H.; Seidel, P.
    We prepared GB junctions of Ba(Fe0.9Co0.1)2As2 thin films on bicrystalline [00 l]-tilt SrTiO3 substrates. The junctions show clear Josephson effects. Electrical characterization shows asymmetric I-V characteristics which can be described within the resistively shunted junction (RSJ) model. A large excess current is observed. Their formal ICRN product is 20.2 μV at 4.2 K, which is decreased to 6.5 μV when taking Iex into account. Fabrication methods to increase this value are discussed. Additionally, measurements on GB junctions of BaFe2(As0.66P0.34)2 thin films on LSAT bicrystalline substrates are shown. Their symmetric RSJ/flux flow-behavior exhibits a formal ICRN product of 45 μV, whereas the excess corrected value is ll μV.
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    Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 single crystals towards high thermoelectric performance
    (Cambridge : RSC Publ., 2020) Pan, Yu; Yao, Mengyu; Hong, Xiaochen; Zhu, Yifan; Fan, Fengren; Imasato, Kazuki; He, Yangkun; Hess, Christian; Fink, Jörg; Yang, Jiong; Büchner, Bernd; Fu, Chenguang; Snyder, G. Jeffrey; Felser, Claudia
    The rapid growth of the thermoelectric cooler market makes the development of novel room temperature thermoelectric materials of great importance. Ternary n-type Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 alloys are promising alternatives to the state-of-the-art Bi2(Te,Se)3 alloys but grain boundary resistance is the most important limitation. n-type Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 single crystals with negligible grain boundaries are expected to have particularly high zT but have rarely been realized due to the demanding Mg-rich growth conditions required. Here, we report, for the first time, the thermoelectric properties of n-type Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 alloyed single crystals grown by a one-step Mg-flux method using sealed tantalum tubes. High weighted mobility ∼140 cm2 V−1 s−1 and a high zT of 0.82 at 315 K are achieved in Y-doped Mg3Bi1.25Sb0.75 single crystals. Through both experimental angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy and theoretical calculations, we denote the origin of the high thermoelectric performance from a point of view of band widening effect and electronegativity, as well as the necessity to form high Bi/Sb ratio ternary Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 alloys. The present work paves the way for further development of Mg3(Bi,Sb)2 for near room temperature thermoelectric applications.
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    Unveiling the phonon scattering mechanisms in half-Heusler thermoelectric compounds
    (Cambridge : RSC Publ., 2020) He, Ran; Zhu, Taishan; Wang, Yumei; Wolff, Ulrike; Jaud, Jean-Christophe; Sotnikov, Andrei; Potapov, Pavel; Wolf, Daniel; Ying, Pingjun; Wood, Max; Liu, Zhenhui; Feng, Le; Perez Rodriguez, Nicolas; Snyder, G. Jeffrey; Grossman, Jeffrey C.; Nielsch, Kornelius; Schierning, Gabi
    Half-Heusler (HH) compounds are among the most promising thermoelectric (TE) materials for large-scale applications due to their superior properties such as high power factor, excellent mechanical and thermal reliability, and non-toxicity. Their only drawback is the remaining-high lattice thermal conductivity. Various mechanisms were reported with claimed effectiveness to enhance the phonon scattering of HH compounds including grain-boundary scattering, phase separation, and electron–phonon interaction. In this work, however, we show that point-defect scattering has been the dominant mechanism for phonon scattering other than the intrinsic phonon–phonon interaction for ZrCoSb and possibly many other HH compounds. Induced by the charge-compensation effect, the formation of Co/4d Frenkel point defects is responsible for the drastic reduction of lattice thermal conductivity in ZrCoSb1−xSnx. Our work systematically depicts the phonon scattering profile of HH compounds and illuminates subsequent material optimizations.
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    Grain boundary assisted photocurrent collection in thin film solar cells
    (Les Ulis : EDP Sciences, 2015) Harndt, Susanna; Kaufmann, Christian A.; Lux-Steiner, Martha C.; Klenk, Reiner; Nürnberg, Reiner
    The influence of absorber grain boundaries on the photocurrent transport in chalcopyrite based thin film solar cells has been calculated using a two dimensional numerical model. Considering extreme cases, the variation in red response is more expressed than in one dimensional models. These findings may offer an explanation for the strong influence of buffer layer preparation on the spectral response of cells with small grained absorbers.