Dresden 2017 – scientific programme

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DS: Fachverband Dünne Schichten

DS 17: Thermoelectric Materials

DS 17.3: Talk

Monday, March 20, 2017, 18:15–18:30, CHE 89

Design of thermoelectrically highly efficient Heusler compounds using phase separations and nano-composites under an economic point of view — •Benjamin Balke — Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz

Half-Heusler compounds are one of the most promising candidates for thermoelectric materials for automotive and industrial waste heat recovery applications. In this talk, I will give an overview about our recent investigations of phase separations in half Heusler thermoelectrics, focusing on the ternary system TiNiSn-ZrNiSn-HfNiSn. I will show how we adapted this knowledge to design a p-type Heusler compound which exhibits a ZT that is increased by 130% compared to the best published bulk p-type Heusler. I will also present how we used the phase separation to design thermoelectric highly efficient nano-composites of different single-phase materials. Since the price for Hafnium was doubled within the last 15 months, our research focused on the design of half-Heusler compounds without Hafnium. I will present a very recent calculation on ZT per € and efficiency per € for various materials followed by our latest very promising results for n-type Heusler compunds without Hafnium resulting in 20 times higher ZT/€ values. These results strongly underline the importance of phase separations as a powerful tool for designing highly efficient materials for thermoelectric applications that fulfill the industrial demands for a thermoelectric converter.