Journal of Inorganic Materials

• Research Letter •    

Boosting the Thermoelectric Performance of Full-Heusler Fe2VAl Alloy Via Substituting Al Site with V

ZHENG Yuanshun1, YU Jian2, YE Xianfeng1, LIANG Dong1, ZHU Wanting1, NIE Xiaolei1, WEI Ping1, ZHAO Wenyu1, ZHANG Qingjie1   

  1. 1. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China;
    2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang 332005, China
  • Received:2025-02-02 Revised:2025-04-13
  • Contact: YU Jian, associate professor. E-mail: yujian@jju.edu; ZHAO Wenyu, professor. E-mail: wyzhao@whut.edu.cn
  • About author:ZHENG Yuanshun(1999-), male, Master candidate. E-mail: yszheng@whut.edu.cn
  • Supported by:
    National Natural Science Foundation of China (52130203, 92463310, 52201256); Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (2022B1515120005)

Abstract: Full-Heusler Fe2VAl alloy has received significant attention for thermoelectric applications due to its high mechanical strength, favorable electrical transport behavior, and earth-abundant constituent elements. However, its intrinsically high lattice thermal conductivity hinders the enhancement of the figure of merit (zT). In this study, a series of bulk materials with the nominal composition of Fe2V1+xAl1-x (x=0-0.21) were prepared by the arc-melting method. The effects of substituting Al site with V on the phase composition, microstructure, band structure, and thermoelectric transport properties were systematically investigated. All materials exhibit a single phase with a partially disordered B2 structure. V-doping shifts the Fermi level into the conduction band, significantly enhancing the carrier concentration, and resulting in a high power factor of 4.5 mW·K-2·m-1. Additionally, the lattice thermal conductivity is substantially reduced due to enhanced phonon scattering induced by the mass and stress fluctuations. Ultimately, maximum zT of 0.14 is achieved for the material with x = 0.15, which is nearly 280 times larger than that of undoped Fe2VAl. This work demonstrates that substituting Al site with V can effectively improve the thermoelectric performance of Fe2VAl alloy.

Key words: Fe2VAl-based full-Heusler alloy, antisite defect, microstructure, thermoelectric performance

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