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Reduced Thermal Conductivity by Low-Frequency Optic Phonons that Give Rise to Negative Thermal Expansion: Opportunities for Thermoelectrics?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 February 2011

Mary Anne White  and
Catherine A. Whitman
Mary Anne White
Affiliation:
[email protected], Dalhousie University, Department of Chemistry and Institute for Research in Materials, Department of Chemistry, Dalhousie University, Halifax, B3H 4J3, Canada
Catherine A. Whitman
Affiliation:
[email protected], Dalhousie University, Department of Chemistry and Institute for Research in Materials, Halifax, B3H 4J3, Canada
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Abstract

We have recently found that the negative thermal expansion (NTE) materials, ZrW2O8 and HfMo2O8, show exceptionally low thermal conductivity. We surmise that the mechanism is the efficient coupling of the low-frequency optic phonons that give rise to negative thermal expansion with the heat-carrying acoustic phonons. Although neither ZrW2O8 nor HfMo2O8 has suitable electronic properties for thermoelectric applications, perhaps the principle of reduced thermal conductivity by low-frequency optic phonons in NTE materials can be used to develop more efficient thermoelectric materials.

Keywords

thermoelectricitythermal conductivityspecific heat
Type
Research Article
Information
MRS Online Proceedings Library (OPL) , Volume 1044: Symposium U – Thermoelectric Power Generation , 2007 , 1044-U07-01
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2008

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