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Thermoelectric figure of merit and thermal conductivity of type-I clathrate alloy nanowires

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2019

Prabhjot Kaur ,
Georg K. H. Madsen  and
Chandan Bera
Prabhjot Kaur
Affiliation:
Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Habitat Center, Phase-X, Mohali, Punjab – 160062, India
Georg K. H. Madsen
Affiliation:
Institute of Materials Chemistry, TU Wien, A-1060 Vienna, Austria
Chandan Bera*
Affiliation:
Institute of Nano Science and Technology, Habitat Center, Phase-X, Mohali, Punjab – 160062, India
*
Address all correspondence to Chandan Bera at chandan@inst.ac.in
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Abstract

Clathrates based on Si and Ge have very low lattice thermal conductivity (~1 W/m-K). This value can potentially be further reduced by alloying and nano-structuring. In this work, the thermal conductivity of Si and Ge clathrates alloy have been investigated using model based on the relaxation time approximation. By including alloy scattering, we find that the lattice thermal conductivity of Ba8Cu6Si40 is reduced by 50% from 1.64 to 0.80 W/m-K in Ba8Cu6Si40(1−x)Ge40x alloy. Further ~90% reduction of the thermal conductivity is possible for nanowire clathrate alloys. The ultra-low thermal conductivity in the nanowire will be very suitable for the thermoelectric application.

Type
Research Letters
Information
MRS Communications , Volume 9 , Issue 1 , March 2019 , pp. 370 - 374
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2019 

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