International Round-Robin Study of the Thermoelectric Transport Properties of an n-Type Half-Heusler Compound from 300 K to 773 K

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials 2015-11, Vol.44 (11), p.4482-4491
• Main Authors: Wang, Hsin, Bai, Shengqiang, Chen, Lidong, Cuenat, Alexander, Joshi, Giri, Kleinke, Holger, König, Jan, Lee, Hee Woong, Martin, Joshua, Oh, Min-Wook, Porter, Wallace D., Ren, Zhifeng, Salvador, James, Sharp, Jeff, Taylor, Patrick, Thompson, Alan J., Tseng, Y. C.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Characterization and Evaluation of Materials; Chemistry and Materials Science; Electric properties; Electronics and Microelectronics; Instrumentation; Materials Science; Optical and Electronic Materials; Solid State Physics
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-015-4006-z

International transport property-measurement round-robins have been conducted by the thermoelectric annex under the International Energy Agency (IEA) Implementing Agreement on Advanced Materials for Transportation (AMT). Two previous round-robins used commercially available bismuth telluride as the test material, with the objectives of understanding measurement issues and developing standard testing procedures. This round-robin extended the measurement temperature range to 773 K. It was designed to meet the increasing demands for reliable transport data for thermoelectric materials used for power-generation applications. Eleven laboratories from six IEA-AMT member countries participated in the study. A half-Heusler ( n -type) material prepared by GMZ Energy was selected for the round-robin. The measured transport properties had a narrower distribution of uncertainty than previous round-robin results. The study intentionally included multiple testing methods and instrument types. Over the full temperature range, the measurement discrepancies for the figure of merit, ZT , in this round-robin were ±11.5 to ±16.4% from the averages.