Theoretical investigations of electrical transport properties in CoSb3 skutterudites under hydrostatic loadings
来源期刊:Rare Metals2018年第4期
论文作者:Chongze Hu Li Zhan Huijuan Zhao Jian He Terry M.Tritt Jingsong Huang Bobby G.Sumpter
文章页码:316 - 325
摘 要:CoSb3-based skutterudites have been a benchmark mid-temperature thermoelectric material under intensive experimental and theoretical studies for decades.Doping and filling, to the first order, alter the crystal lattice constant of CoSb3 in the context of "chemical pressure." In this work, we employed ab initio density functional theory in conjunction with semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory to investigate the mechanical properties and especially how hydrostatic loadings, i.e., "physical pressure," impact the electronic band structure, Seebeck coefficient,and power factor of pristine CoSb3. It is found that hydrostatic pressure enlarges the band gap, suppresses the density of states(DOS) near the valence band edge, and fosters the band convergence between the valley bands and the conduction band minimum(CBM). By contrast,hydrostatic tensile reduces the band gap, increases the DOS near the valence band edge, and diminishes the valley bands near the CBM. Therefore, applying hydrostatic pressure provides an alternative avenue for achieving band convergence to improve thermoelectric properties of N-type CoSb3, which is further supported by our carrier concentration studies. These results provide valuable insight into the further improvement of thermoelectric performance of CoSb3-based skutterudites via a synergy of physical and chemical pressures.
稀有金属(英文版) 2018,37(04),316-325
Chongze Hu Peter Ni Li Zhan Huijuan Zhao Jian He Terry M.Tritt Jingsong Huang Bobby G.Sumpter
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Montgomery High School
Department of Physics and Astronomy,Clemson University
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
收稿日期:24 September 2017
基金:supported by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy (Nos. DEAC05-00OR22750 and DE-AC02-05-CH11231);the support of National Science Foundation (No. DMR-1307740);
Chongze Hu Peter Ni Li Zhan Huijuan Zhao Jian He Terry M.Tritt Jingsong Huang Bobby G.Sumpter
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Clemson University
Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Montgomery High School
Department of Physics and Astronomy,Clemson University
Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences and Computational Sciences and Engineering Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Abstract:
CoSb3-based skutterudites have been a benchmark mid-temperature thermoelectric material under intensive experimental and theoretical studies for decades.Doping and filling, to the first order, alter the crystal lattice constant of CoSb3 in the context of "chemical pressure." In this work, we employed ab initio density functional theory in conjunction with semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory to investigate the mechanical properties and especially how hydrostatic loadings, i.e., "physical pressure," impact the electronic band structure, Seebeck coefficient,and power factor of pristine CoSb3. It is found that hydrostatic pressure enlarges the band gap, suppresses the density of states(DOS) near the valence band edge, and fosters the band convergence between the valley bands and the conduction band minimum(CBM). By contrast,hydrostatic tensile reduces the band gap, increases the DOS near the valence band edge, and diminishes the valley bands near the CBM. Therefore, applying hydrostatic pressure provides an alternative avenue for achieving band convergence to improve thermoelectric properties of N-type CoSb3, which is further supported by our carrier concentration studies. These results provide valuable insight into the further improvement of thermoelectric performance of CoSb3-based skutterudites via a synergy of physical and chemical pressures.
Keyword:
CoSb3 skutterudite; Hydrostatic loadings; Mechanical properties; Electronic structure; Seebeck coefficient; Thermoelectrics;
Author: Jian He e-mail:Jianhe@clemson.edu; Jingsong Huang e-mail: huangj3@ornl.govo;
Received: 24 September 2017
1 Introduction
High-performance thermoelectric (TE) materials are at the heart of thermoelectrics,a vital green energy technology that directly converts waste heat to electricity with high reliability
To the first order,filling and doping alter the bond length/angle on the atomic level,thereby giving rise to a lattice constant change in the context of“chemical pressure.”The comparison between the effects of“chemical pressure”and its counterpart of“physical pressure”(i.e.,the externally applied forces) has been an appealing longstanding topic of research in the field of condensed matter physics and materials sciences
In this work,we employed first-principles density functional theory (DFT) combined with semiclassical Boltzmann transport theory to calculate the mechanical properties,electronic band structures,Seebeck coefficients,and power factors under hydrostatic pressure and tensile,i.e.,“physical pressure.”The results shed light on the further improvement of thermoelectric performance in CoSb3 via doping and filling (“chemical pressure”) or a synergy of physical and chemical pressures.Figure 1shows a schematic diagram of hydrostatic loadings in a cubic cell of CoSb3.
2 Methodology
The Vienna ab initio simulation package (VASP-5.3.5version) was used for all DFT calculations
After the structural optimizations,the cubic unit cell of CoSb3 was used to calculate the mechanical (elastic)properties by performing six finite distortions of the lattice,and the elastic tensors were obtained from the strain-stress relation
The static electronic band structure calculations were performed in a primitive cell of CoSb3 by using the Perdew-Burke-Ernzerhof (PBE)
The BoltzWann code
Fig.1 Schematic diagram of applying a hydrostatic pressure and b hydrostatic tensile onto a cubic cell of CoSb3 (red arrows denote direction of strain)
3 Results and discussion
3.1 Mechanical properties of CoSb3 skutterudite
Previous studies
As listed in Table 1,our calculations with the optB86b functional overestimate C11 of CoSb3 while yielding C12and C44 in good agreement with previous theoretical and/or experimental results.Early calculations by others with the PBE functional obtained a reasonably good C11,but they overestimated C12 and underestimated C44 slightly.Though known as a good choice for calculating mechanical properties of solids,the PBEsol functional overestimated both C11 and C12
Fig.2 a Total energy per unit cell and b stress calculated by optB86b functional as a function of strain from-0.1 (compression) to 0.1(expansion) at an increment of 0.02
Table 1 Calculated elastic constants C11,C12,and C44,bulk modulus (B),shear modulus (G),Young's modulus (E),and Poisson's ratio (v),compared with available elastic constants C11 and C44 derived from extrapolating experimental data to 0 K
3.2 Strain effect on electronic band structure
Figure 3 shows the electronic band structure for the1×1×1 primitive cell of CoSb3 under hydrostatic loadings (pressure and tensile) in a range of strains from 0to±0.04 at an increment of±0.02.For the non-strained CoSb3 (Fig.3a),the band structure has a direct band gap(Egap~0.23 eV) at theΓpoint.The valley band located at 0.13 eV above the conduction band minimum (CBM) in theΓ-N zone represents one of twelve degenerate Fermi electron pockets (FEPs) in the entire Brillouin zone with twelve congruent rhombic faces
Band engineering to converge conduction (or valence)bands is known as a general strategy to obtain highly degenerate band valleys (or hills) toward higher N-type (or P-type) thermoelectric performance
As the strain is further increased to-0.04 (Fig.3c),the bottom of valley band continues to be pushed down and locates at 0.12 eV below the original CBM and finally forms an indirect Egap of~0.51 eV with the VBM(Fig.3c).On the other hand,by applying the hydrostatic tensile strain,the direct Egap in pristine CoSb3 decreases to0.07 eV at a strain of 0.02 (Fig.3d) and closes to a zero gap at a strain of 0.04 (Fig.3e).As shown,the valley bands are very sensitive to the tensile strain.The diminishing valley with strain increasing degrades the power factor,consistent with the previous study by Tang et al.
Since it is well known that the PBE functional tends to underestimate the band gap,we tried the HSE06 hybrid functional.The band structures calculated by the HSE06 functional are shown in Fig.S1 in the SupportingInformation.As shown,with HSE06 calculations,the bottom of valley band is lowered and becomes the CBM and forms an indirect gap of~0.78 eV with the VBM in pristine CoSb3 (Fig.S1 a).This indirect Egap is too large compared to the experimental value in the range of0.31 eV-0.35 eV
Fig.3 Band structures of 1 x 1×1 primitive cell of CoSb3 calculated by PBE functional under a non-strain,hydrostatic pressure with strain of b-0.02 and c-0.04,hydrostatic tensile with strain of d 0.02 and e 0.04 (Fermi energy,EF,being set to 0 eV as indicated by horizontal dashed lines)
Fig.4 Band gap Egap calculated by PBE and HSE functionals as a function of strain from-0.04 (hydrostatic pressure) to 0.04 (hydrostatic tensile) at an increment of 0.02 (empty markers denoting indirect band gaps,while solid markers denoting direct band gaps)
The monotonic variation of Egap with hydrostatic loading shown in Figs.3 and 4 can also be seen in the total DOS (Fig.5).Under hydrostatic pressure (Fig.5a),the states associated with the conduction bands shift up in energy.Notably,the rigid band approximation fails.For example,a strain of-0.02 nearly aligns the valley band and the triply degenerate band atΓpoint (Fig.3b),and thus,one would expect an enhanced DOS in the context of the rigid band approximation.Instead,we observed a slightly decreased DOS at strain of-0.02 compared to the case of no strain (Fig.5a),which indicates that the hydrostatic pressure not only converges the bands but also makes these bands more dispersive.More dispersive bands favor larger carrier mobility.By contrast,hydrostatic tensile shifts the states associated with the conduction bands to lower energy and therefore decreases Egap (Fig.5b).Notably,near the valence band edge,the magnitude of DOS is significantly suppressed (enlarged) as the strain of hydrostatic pressure (tensile) increases.Once the Fermi level is deep into the valence band,say,the CoSb3 can be considered as a degenerate semiconductor or metal.In this case,according to the Mott's relation,
Fig.5 Total DOS (TDOS) under a hydrostatic pressure and b hydrostatic tensile (Fermi energy,EF,being set to 0 eV as indicated by vertical dashed lines;arrows indicate the trend of DOS under hydrostatic loadings;orbital decomposed partial DOS can be found in Ref.
3.3 Effects of hydrostatic loading on electrical transport properties
To quantitatively understand the effect of hydrostatic loading on the Seebeck coefficient,we calculated S as a functional of the chemical potentialμat T=100 K,300 K,and 500 K.The results are shown in Fig.6.Without hydrostatic loadings (Fig.6a),the S of pristine CoSb3exhibits two peaks (one positive and one negative) sandwiched between VBM and CBM.In the light doping region,the magnitude of S (i.e.,|S|) is found to decrease with T increasing,as expected for a semiconductor.Upon heavy doping,the|S|is proportional to T,which behaves like a degenerate semiconductor or a metal.With hydrostatic pressure strain applied (Fig.6b,c),this general trend still holds.Furthermore,the|S|increases significantly with strain increasing,especially for the magnitude of two S peaks sandwiched in the gap region (Fig.6a-c).By contrast,hydrostatic tensile strain significantly decreases the|S|(Fig.6a,d,e).At a tensile strain of 0.02 (Fig.6d),the position of the positive S peak is shifted below the VBM,while the negative S peak is located at the VBM.When the tensile strain is further increased to 0.04,both S peaks are shifted below the EF (Fig.6e).We found that the|S|of hydrostatic pres sure-strained and the|S|of nonstrained CoSb3 follow an order (100 K>300 K>500 K),while hydrostatic tensile-strained CoSb3 follows the opposite,i.e.,(500 K>300 K>100 K).
As shown in Fig.6,the peak value of|S|(Speak) is positively correlated with Egap.To quantify the correlation between the Speak and the Egap,we plotted the Speak as a function of Egap at T=100 K,300 K,and 500 K in Fig.7a.Apparently,there is a clear linear correlation between the Speak and Egap at each temperature.By taking the derivative of dSpeak/dEgap and plotting edSpeak/dEgap as a function of 1/T,we also found a perfect linear relation for both positive and negative S peaks with a slope of 0.50 and-0.52,respectively (Fig.7b).A simple relation dSpeak/dEgap=1/(2eT) is thus obtained,which is reminiscent of the well-known Goldsmid-Sharp rule
Finally,we discuss the effects of hydrostatic loadings on the S as a function of carrier concentration (p/n,where p for P-type doping and n for N-type doping) in CoSb3.Figure 8shows the S(p/n) at light dopings (0.5×1017 cm-3-5.0×1017 cm-3 for P-type and 0.5×1018 cm-3-5×1018 cm-3 for N-type) and heavy dopings(1×1018 cm-3-1×1019 cm-3 for P-type and1×1019 cm-3-1×1020 cm-3 for N-type) under hydrostatic pressure strains.The counterpart results under hydrostatic tensile strains are deposited in the Supporting Information.For light dopings but with no strain at T=100 K,the|S|monotonically decrease with the p and n increasing (Fig.8a).By contrast,this is not the case for the P-type non-strained CoSb3 at T=300 K (Fig.8b),where the|S|first increases and then decreases when p exceeds 2.5×1017 cm-3.Furthermore,the non-strained|S|at 500 K is proportional to p and n for both P-and N-type CoSb3 (Fig.8c).As shown in Fig.8a-c,the|S|of lightly doped and pressure-strained CoSb3 is generally inversely proportional with the p and n at 100 K and300 K,but becomes positively correlated with the p and n at 500 K.As shown in Fig.8d-f,the|S|of heavily doped and pres sure-strained CoSb3 is generally inversely proportional with both p and n at each temperature.By comparing the|S|at the same carrier concentration under different hydrostatic pressures,we found that the|S|is generally enhanced for both lightly and heavily doped P-and N-type CoSb3 as indicated by the arrows shown in Fig.8.The enhancement of|S|under hydrostatic pressure can be ascribed to the interplay of three factors:(i) the band convergence between the valley bands and the CBM for N-type doping (Fig.3a),(ii) the suppression of TDOS near valence band edge for P-type CoSb3 in light of the Mott's relation (Fig.5a),and (iii) the larger Egap induced by hydrostatic pressure for both P-and N-type dopings(Fig.7a).The results of power factor under hydrostatic pressure are presented in Fig.S2 in the Supporting Information.On the contrary,due to the complexity of band structure induced by hydrostatic tensile (Fig.3d,e),e.g.,with the occurrence of MIT at a strain of 0.04,we do not observe a monotonic variation of S(p/n) but an unusual behavior,as shown in Fig.S3 in the Supporting Information.
Fig.6 Calculated Seebeck coefficient (S) as a function of chemical potentialμunder a non-strain,hydrostatic pressure with strain of b-0.02and c-0.04,and hydrostatic tensile with strain of d 0.02 and e strain 0.04 (black vertical and dashed lines denoting VBM,CBM,and EF)
Fig.7 a Two peaks of S(μ) as a function of Egap at T=100 K,300 K,and 500 K and b calculated e·dSpeak/dEgap as a function of 1/T(S+and S-denoting P-type and N-type dopings,respectively)
Fig.8 Seebeck coefficient (S) as a function of carrier concentration (p/n,where p for P-type doping and n for N-type doping) under hydrostatic pressure:light doping ratios shown in a 100 K,b 300 K,and c 500 K,while heavy doping ratios shown in d 100 K,e 300 K,and f 500 K(arrows indicating trend of|S|under strain)
4 Conclusion
Inspired by the analogy between the effects of chemical pressure and physical pressure on the mechanical,electronic,and electrical transport properties,we have performed first-principles calculations combined with the Boltzmann transport equation to study pristine CoSb3under hydrostatic loadings (pressure and tensile).We have found that hydrostatic pressure enlarges the band gap,suppresses the DOS near the valence band edge,and fosters the band convergence between the valley bands and the CBM,which is favorable for N-type thermoelectric performance.On the other hand,the hydrostatic tensile reduces band gap and induces a metal-to-insulator transition(MIT).Owing to the significant effect of an MIT on the electronic band structure and the Seebeck coefficient,it would be interesting to explore how it impacts thermoelectric properties in future.Furthermore,tensile increases the DOS near the valence band edge but diminishes the FEPs near the CBM,and therefore,it is unfavorable for N-type thermoelectric performance.Overall,the understanding of the strain effects of hydrostatic loadings reported here may provide new insight into the performance improvement of thermoelectricity in CoSb3-based skutterudites via a synergy of chemical and physical pressure.One limitation of the present study is that we only focused on the effects of hydrostatic loadings (pressure and tensile);a complete understanding must take into account the uniaxial,biaxial,and shear strain,which can be a subject for future studies.
Acknowledgements This research was conducted at the Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences,which is a US Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility,and used resources of the National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center,which are supported by the Office of Science of the US Department of Energy (Nos.DE-AC05-00OR22750 and DE-AC02-05-CH11231).Chongze Hu and Jian He would like to acknowledge the support of National Science Foundation (No.DMR-1307740).
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