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Abstract:
The carrier concentration in the p-type half-Heusler compound
Ti0.3Zr0.35Hf0.35CoSb1-xSnx was optimized, which is a fundamental
approach to enhance the performance of thermoelectric materials. The
optimum carrier concentration is reached with a substitution level x =
0.15 of Sn, which yields the maximum power factor, 2.69 x 10(-3)
Wm(-1)K(-2), and the maximum ZT = 0.8. This is an enhancement of about
40% in the power factor and the figure of merit compared to samples with
x = 0.2. To achieve low thermal conductivities in half-Heusler
compounds, intrinsic phase separation is an important key point. The
present work addresses the influence of different preparation procedures
on the quality and reproducibility of the samples, leading to the
development of a reliable fabrication method. (C) 2015 Author(s).