Novel room-temperature full-Heusler thermoelectric material Li2TlSb

Abstract

High lattice thermal conductivity stemming from the intrinsically ordered crystal and strong interatomic bonds tends to be seen as the bottleneck for achieving excellent thermoelectric properties in full-Heusler (FH) semiconductors. In this work, we propose a novel Li-based FH compound Li₂TlSb by substituting one Li atom with a Tl atom in Li₃Sb. Then we systematically investigated its transport and thermoelectric properties based on self-consistent phonon (SCP) theory, electron–phonon scattering, and the Boltzmann transport equation. The theoretical calculation confirms that it exhibits outstanding mechanical properties and extreme environment adaptability. Surprisingly, the combination of an unexpectedly high spatial degeneracy and light electron dispersion at valence bands results in a high power factor in p-type systems. Additionally, the rattling behavior governed by the Tl atom and resonant bonding is responsible for ultra-low lattice thermal conductivity with 0.79 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ at room temperature. Finally, a maximum p-type ZT value of 1.77 at 300 K has been achieved, which surpasses those of most of the traditional thermoelectric (TE) materials. Our results demonstrate that Li₂TlSb serves as a potential candidate for room-temperature thermoelectric materials and simultaneously provides new insights for rationally designing novel FH materials in the future.