Unlocking the full potential of thermoelectric MgAgSb by unravelling the interrelation of phase constitution and transport properties

Abstract

Thermoelectric generators (TEG) focus on harnessing the conversion of heat into electricity, holding promise for sustainable energy solutions and space power supply. Magnesium silver antimonide (MgAgSb) stands out among materials, exhibiting high performance from room temperature to 573 K. α-MgAgSb shows attractive thermoelectric (TE) properties and TEG lab prototypes have been successfully fabricated[1], but its sensitivity to secondary phases poses challenges[2], impacting the performance. A long-standing problem of this material system is its sensitivity to minute differences in effective composition and synthesis parameters, resulting in greatly differing TE properties and phase constitution in the micro- and nano-scale.