Journal article

Publication year: 2019

Journal: Materials

Volume number: 12

Issue number: 11

ISSN: 1996-1944

Open access status: Gold

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12111857

Publisher: MDPI

Abstract: 
-MgAgSb is a very promising thermoelectric material with excellent thermoelectric properties between room temperature and 300 degrees C, a range where few other thermoelectric materials show good performance. Previous reports rely on a two-step ball-milling process and/or time-consuming annealing. Aiming for a faster and scalable fabrication route, herein, we investigated other potential synthesis routes and their impact on the thermoelectric properties of -MgAgSb. We started from a gas-atomized MgAg precursor and employed ball-milling only in the final mixing step. Direct comparison of high energy ball-milling and planetary ball-milling revealed that high energy ball milling already induced formation of MgAgSb, while planetary ball milling did not. This had a strong impact on the microstructure and secondary phase fraction, resulting in superior performance of the high energy ball milling route with an attractive average thermoelectric figure of merit of zTavg= 0.9. We also show that the formation of undesired secondary phases cannot be avoided by a modification of the sintering temperature after planetary ball milling, and discuss the influence of commonly observed secondary phases on the carrier mobility and on the thermoelectric properties of -MgAgSb.

Harvard Citation style: Camut, J., Rodriguez, I., Kamila, H., Cowley, A., Sottong, R., Mueller, E., et al. (2019) Insight on the Interplay between Synthesis Conditions and Thermoelectric Properties of -MgAgSb, Materials, 12(11), Article 1857. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12111857

APA Citation style: Camut, J., Rodriguez, I., Kamila, H., Cowley, A., Sottong, R., Mueller, E., & de Boor, J. (2019). Insight on the Interplay between Synthesis Conditions and Thermoelectric Properties of -MgAgSb. Materials. 12(11), Article 1857. https://doi.org/10.3390/ma12111857