Novel K rattling: A new route to thermoelectric materials?

Dumbbell rattling in thermoelectric zinc antimony.

Inelastic neutron scattering measurements on thermoelectric Zn4Sb3 reveal a dominant soft local phonon mode at 5.3(1) meV. The form factor of this local mode is characteristic for dumbbells vibrating preferably along the dumbbell axis and can be related to a vibration of Sb dimers along the c axis. The Lorentzian width of the mode corresponds to short phonon lifetimes of 0.39(2) ps and yields a...

The route to resource-efficient novel materials.

New Thermoelectric Materials and New Applications

Thermoelectricity in general is of strong scientific and technological interest due to its application possibilities ranging from clean energy to photon sensing devices. Recent developments in theoretical studies on t he thermoelectric effects, as well as the newly discovered thermoelectric materials provide new opportunities for wide applications. One type of these materials is based on the st...

New route for hollow materials

Hollow micro/nano structures form an important family of functional materials. We have used the thermal oxidation process combined with the passage of electric current during a structural phase transition to disclose a colossal mass diffusion transfer of Ti ions. This combination points to a new route for fabrication of hollow materials. A structural phase transition at high temperature prepare...

New Directions for Low-Dimensional Thermoelectric Materials

Providing a sustainable supply of energy to the world’s population will become a major societal problem for the 21st century as fossil fuel supplies decrease and world demand increases. Thermoelectric phenomena, which involve the conversion between thermal and electrical energy, and provide a method for heating and cooling materials, are expected to play an increasingly important role in meetin...