Enhanced thermoelectric properties of NbCoSn half-Heuslers through in-situ nanocrystallization of amorphous precursors during the consolidation process

Tailoring nanostructures is a general approach used to obtain enhanced thermoelectric properties for halfHeusler compounds because the wide areas of grain and phase boundaries could be scattering centers that lower lattice thermal conductivity.However,a common fabrication method based on the sintering of crystalline precursors crushed from as-cast alloy ingots has limitations in obtaining a homogeneous microstructure without microsized impurity phases,owing to residual elemental segregation from casting.In this study,we used amorphous NbCoSn alloys as a precursor for the sintered specimen to obtain a homogeneous NbCoSn bulk specimen without microsized impurity phases and segregation,which led to the enhanced Seebeck coefficient due to the high purity of the half-Heusler phase after crystallization.Moreover,superplasticity originating from amorphous features enabled the powders to be largely deformed during the sintering process,even at a low sintering temperature(953 K).This resulted in less oxidation at both,the grain boundary and the interior,as the O diffusion pathway was blocked during the sintering process.As a result,the NbCoSn0.95Sb0.05 specimen using an amorphous precursor exhibited an enhanced zT of 0.7,due to the increase in the power factor and a decrease in lattice thermal conductivity compared to the specimen using a crystalline precursor.