High-Temperature Thermoelectric Properties of the Solid–Solution Zintl Phase Eu11Cd6Sb12–xAsx (x < 3)
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Ames National Laboratory is a government-owned, contractor-operated national laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), operated by and located on the campus of Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa.
For more than 70 years, the Ames National Laboratory has successfully partnered with Iowa State University, and is unique among the 17 DOE laboratories in that it is physically located on the campus of a major research university. Many of the scientists and administrators at the Laboratory also hold faculty positions at the University and the Laboratory has access to both undergraduate and graduate student talent.
The Department of Chemistry seeks to provide students with a foundation in the fundamentals and application of chemical theories and processes of the lab. Thus prepared they me pursue careers as teachers, industry supervisors, or research chemists in a variety of domains (governmental, academic, etc).
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The Department of Chemistry was founded in 1880.
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1880-present
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- College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (parent college)
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Abstract
Zintl phases are compounds that have shown promise for thermoelectric applications. The title solid–solution Zintl compounds were prepared from the elements as single crystals using a tin flux for compositions x = 0, 1, 2, and 3. Eu11Cd6Sb12–xAsx (x < 3) crystallize isostructurally in the centrosymmetric monoclinic space group C2/m (no. 12, Z = 2) as the Sr11Cd6Sb12 structure type (Pearson symbol mC58). Efforts to make the As compositions for x exceeding ∼3 resulted in structures other than the Sr11Cd6Sb12 structure type. Single-crystal X-ray diffraction indicates that As does not randomly substitute for Sb in the structure but is site specific for each composition. The amount of As determined by structural refinement was verified by electron microprobe analysis. Electronic structures and energies calculated for various model structures of Eu11Cd6Sb10As2 (x = 2) indicated that the preferred As substitution pattern involves a mixture of three of the six pnicogen sites in the asymmetric unit. In addition, As substitution at the Pn4 site opens an energy gap at the Fermi level, whereas substitution at the other five pnicogen sites remains semimetallic with a pseudo gap. Thermoelectric properties of these compounds were measured on hot-pressed, fully densified pellets. Samples show exceptionally low lattice thermal conductivities from room temperature to 775 K: 0.78–0.49 W/mK for x = 0; 0.72–0.53 W/mK for x = 1; and 0.70–0.56 W/mK for x = 2. Eu11Cd6Sb12 shows a high p-type Seebeck coefficient (from +118 to 153 μ V/K) but also high electrical resistivity (6.8 to 12.8 mΩ·cm). The value of zT reaches 0.23 at 774 K. The properties of Eu11Cd6Sb12–xAsx are interpreted in discussion with the As site substitution.
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Reprinted (adapted) with permission from Chem. Mater., 2014, 26 (3), pp 1393–1403. Copyright 2014 American Chemical Society.