Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-8mjnm Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T03:43:18.669Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Enhanced thermoelectric performance driven by high-temperature phase transition in the phase change material Ge4SbTe5

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2015

Jared B. Williams
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
Edgar Lara-Curzio
Affiliation:
Materials Science & Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA
Ercan Cakmak
Affiliation:
Materials Science & Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA
Thomas Watkins
Affiliation:
Materials Science & Technology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830, USA
Donald T. Morelli*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering & Materials Science, Michigan State University; and Department of Physics & Astronomy, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan 48824, USA
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: dmorelli@egr.msu.edu
Get access

Abstract

Phase change materials are identified for their ability to rapidly alternate between the amorphous and crystalline phases and have large contrast in the optical/electrical properties of the respective phases. The materials are not only primarily used in memory storage applications, but also recently they have been identified as potential thermoelectric materials [D. Lencer et al., Adv. Mater.23, 2030–2058 (2011)]. Many of the phase change materials studied today can be found on the pseudo-binary (GeTe)1−x(Sb2Te3)x tie-line. While many compounds on this tie-line have been recognized as thermoelectric materials, here we focus on Ge4SbTe5, a single phase compound just off of the (GeTe)1−x(Sb2Te3)x tie-line, which forms in a stable rocksalt crystal structure at room temperature. We find that stoichiometric and undoped Ge4SbTe5 exhibits a thermal conductivity of ∼1.2 W/m K at high temperature and a large Seebeck coefficient of ∼250 μV/K. The resistivity decreases dramatically at 623 K due to a structural phase transition which leads to a large enhancement in both thermoelectric power factor and thermoelectric figure of merit at 823 K. In a more general sense, the work presents evidence that phase change materials can potentially provide a new route to highly efficient thermoelectric materials for power generation at high temperature.

Type
Article
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Slack, G.: New materials and performance limits for thermoelectric cooling. In CRC Handbook of Thermoelectrics, Rowe, D.M. ed. (CRC Press, Boca Raton, FL, 1995).Google Scholar
Biswas, K., He, J., Blum, I., Wu, D., Hogan, T., Seidman, D., Dravid, V., and Kanatzidis, M.: High-performance bulk thermoelectrics with all-scale hierarchical architectures. Nature 489, 414418 (2012).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ovshinsky, S.: Reversible electrical switching phenomena in disordered structures. Phys. Rev. Lett. 21, 14501453 (1968).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wuttig, M. and Yamada, N.: Phase change materials for rewriteable data storage. Nat. Mater. 6, 824832 (2007).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Skrabek, E. and Trimmer, D.: Properties of General TAGS System. In CRC Handbook of Thermoelectrics, Rowe, D.M. ed. (CRC, Boca Raton, 1995); pp. 267275.Google Scholar
Tritt, T. and Subramanian, M.: Thermoelectric materials, phenomena, and applications: A bird’s eye view. MRS Bull. 31, 188198 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosenthal, T., Schneider, M., Stiewe, C., Doblinger, M., and Oeckler, O.: Real structure and thermoelectric properties of GeTe-rich germanium antimony tellurides. Chem. Mater. 23, 43494356 (2011).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wood, C.: Materials for thermoelectric energy conversion. Rep. Prog. Phys. 51, 459539 (1988).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lencer, D., Salinga, M., and Wuttig, M.: Design rules for phase-change materials in data storage applications. Adv. Mater. 23, 20302058 (2011).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, C., Chin, T., Huang, Y., Tung, I., Jeng, T., Chiang, D., and Huang, D.: Optical properties of Ge40Sb10Te50Bx (x=0-2) films. Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 38, 6369 (1999).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheider, M., Urban, P., Leineweber, A., Doblinger, M., and Oeckler, O.: Influence of stress and strain on the kinetic stability and phase transitions of cubic and pseudocubic Ge-Sb-Te materials. Phys. Rev. B 81, 184102 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shportko, K., Kremers, S., Woda, M., Lencer, D., Robertson, J., and Wuttig, M.: Resonant bonding in crystalline phase-change materials. Nat. Mater. 7, 653658 (2008).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pauling, L.: The Nature of the Chemical Bond: And the Structure of Molecules and Crystals, 3rd ed. (Cornell University Press, New York, 1960).Google Scholar
Morelli, D. and Slack, G.: High Lattice Thermal Conductivity Solids. In High Thermal Conductivity Materials, Shinde, S. and Goela, J. eds. (Springer, New York, NY, 2006).Google Scholar
Lencer, D., Salinga, M., Grabowski, B.Hickel, T., Neugebauer, J., and Wuttig, M.: A map for phase-change materials. Nat. Mater. 7, 972977 (2008).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lee, S., Esfarjani, K., Luo, T., Zhou, J., Tian, Z., and Chen, G.: Resonant bonding leads to low lattice thermal conductivity. Nat. Commun. 3525 (2014).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nielsen, M., Ozolins, V., and Heremans, J.: Lone pair electrons minimize lattice thermal conductivity. Energy Environ. Sci. 6, 570 (2013).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lyeo, J., Cahill, D., Lee, B., Abelson, J., Kwon, M., Kim, K., Bishop, S., and Cheong, B.: Thermal conductivity of phase-change material Ge2Sb2Te5. Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 151904 (2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegert, K., Lange, F., Sittner, E., Volker, H., Schlockermann, C., Siegrist, T., and Wuttig, M.: Impact of vacancy ordering on thermal transport in crystalline phase-change materials. Rep. Prog. Phys. 78, 013001 (2015).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruiz Santoz, R., Prokhorov, E., Espinoza Beltran, F., Trapaga Martinez, L., and Gonzalez-Hernandez, J.: Crystallization and ferroelectric properties of Ge4SbTe5 films. J. Non-Cryst. Solids 356, 30263031 (2010).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegrist, T., Jost, P., Volker, H., Woda, M., Merkelbach, P., Schlockermann, C., and Wuttig, M.: Disorder-induced localization in crystalline phase-change materials. Nat. Mater. 10, 202208 (2011).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ehrenreich, H., Seitz, F., and Turnbull, D.: Solid State Physics: Advances in Research and Applications (Academic Press, New York, NY, 1979).Google Scholar
Shindé, S. and Goela, J.: High Thermal Conductivity Materials (Springer Science and Business Media, New York, 2006).CrossRefGoogle Scholar