Thermoelectric Properties of Half-Heusler Heterostructures from Ab Initio Calculations

Semiconducting half-Heusler alloys have recently emerged as a class of thermoelectric materials with outstanding performance in the medium- to high-temperature range. Heterostructures promise a further reduction of thermal conductivity as a result of phonon scattering at interfaces. Here, both the electronic and phononic spectra of half-Heusler compounds based on Ti, Zr, and Hf are calculated using density functional theory. With this input, thermoelectric properties are obtained, and the thermal conductivity of a heterostructure superlattice is estimated by extending the diffuse mismatch model of interface conductance. We find that a high power factor σS2\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \usepackage{amsmath} \usepackage{wasysym} \usepackage{amsfonts} \usepackage{amssymb} \usepackage{amsbsy} \usepackage{mathrsfs} \usepackage{upgreek} \setlength{\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \begin{document}$$\sigma S^2$$\end{document} can be retained in a short-period superlattice, while thermal conductivity is reduced compared to that in single-phase half-Heusler crystals.