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The full-Heusler VFe 2 Al has emerged as an important thermoelectric material in its thin film and bulk phases. VFe 2 Al is attractive for use as a thermoelectric materials because of it contains only low-cost, non-toxic and earth abundant elements. While VFe 2 Al has often been described as a semimetal, here we show the electronic and thermal properties of VFe 2 Al can be explained by considering VFe 2 Al as a valence precise semiconductor like many other thermoelectric materials but with a very small band gap ( E g = 0.03 ± 0.01 eV). Using a two-band model for electrical transport and point-defect scattering model for thermal transport we analyze the thermoelectric properties of bulk full-Heusler VFe 2 Al. We demonstrate that a semiconductor transport model can explain the compilation of data from a variety of n and p-type VFe 2 Al compositions assuming a small band-gap between 0.02 eV and 0.04 eV. In this small E g semiconductor understanding, the model suggests that nominally undoped VFe 2 Al samples appear metallic because of intrinsic defects of the order of ∼10 20 defects per cm −3 . We rationalize the observed trends in weighted mobilities ( μ w ) with dopant atoms from a molecular orbital understanding of the electronic structure. We use a phonon-point-defect scattering model to understand the dopant-concentration (and, therefore, the carrier-concentration) dependence of thermal conductivity. The electrical and thermal models developed allow us to predict the zT versus carrier concentration curve for this material, which maps well to reported experimental investigations.
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Microkinetic model for reaction and diffusion of titanium interstitial atoms near a TiO 2 (110) surface
Semiconductor surfaces provide efficient pathways for injecting native point defects into the underlying bulk. In the case of interstitial atoms in rutile, the TiO 2 (110) surface exemplifies this behavior, although extended defects in the bulk such as platelets and crystallographic shear planes act as net sources or sinks depending upon specific conditions. The present work constructs a quantitative microkinetic model to describe diffusion and based upon isotopic gas–solid exchange experiments. Key activation barriers for are 0.55 eV for surface injection, 0.50 eV for site-to-site hopping diffusion, and 3.3 eV for dissociation of titanium interstitials from extended defects.
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- Award ID(s):
- 1709327
- PAR ID:
- 10056769
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 6
- ISSN:
- 1463-9076
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 4587 to 4596
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1039/c7cp07802a
