Synthesis, Structure and Charge Transport Properties of Yb5Al2Sb6: A Zintl Phase with Incomplete Electron Transfer

Crystal structure characterization and electronic structure of a rare-earth-containing Zintl phase in the Yb-Al-Sb family: Yb3AlSb3

A rare-earth-containing compound, ytterbium aluminium antimonide, Yb₃AlSb₃ (Ca₃AlAs₃-type structure), has been successfully synthesized within the Yb-Al-Sb system through flux methods. According to the Zintl formalism, this structure is nominally made up of (Yb²⁺)₃[(Al^1-)(1b - Sb^2-)₂(2b - Sb^1-)], where 1b and 2b indicate 1-bonded and 2-bonded, respectively, and Al is treated as part of the covalent anionic network. The crystal structure features infinite corner-sharing AlSb₄ tetrahedra, [AlSb₂Sb_2/2]^6-, with Yb²⁺ cations residing between the tetrahedra to provide charge balance. Herein, the synthetic conditions, the crystal structure determined from single-crystal X-ray diffraction data, and electronic structure calculations are reported.

Two Steps to Improve the Thermoelectric Performance of the Ca5-xYbxAl2-yInySb6 System

A series of quaternary and quinary Zintl phase thermoelectric (TE) compounds, Ca_5-xYb_xAl_2-yIn_ySb₆ (3.07(1) ≤ x ≤ 4.88(2); 0.16(2) ≤ y ≤ 2.00), containing Al/In mixed sites as well as Ca/Yb mixed sites has been successfully synthesized by a direct arc-melting method, and the X-ray diffraction analyses indicated that the products initially adopted an orthorhombic Ba₅Al₂Bi₆-type structure (space group Pbam, Z = 2). However, after a postannealing process at 973 K for 1 month, the particular Yb rich compounds underwent a transformation of the original structure type to a Ca₅Ga₂Sb₆-type phase regardless of the In substitution for Al. The noticeable site preference of cationic Ca and Yb in the three available cationic sites could be understood on the basis of a size match between the central cation and the volume of the anionic polyhedra. The observed phase transition was nicely explained by DFT calculations, proving that the Ca₅Ga₂Sb₆-type phase was energetically more favorable than the Ba₅Al₂Sb₆-type phase for the particular Yb-rich compound. Moreover, this energy difference between the two title phases was originally the result of both the site energy in the Ca site and the bond energies in the [(Al/In)₂Sb₈] anionic building blocks. A series of thermoelectric property data indicated that a two-step process involving a partial/full In substitution for Al and a phase transition from the Ba₅Al₂Sb₆-type to the Ca₅Ga₂Sb₆-type phase successfully enhanced the electrical conductivities and the Seebeck coefficients of the title compounds. This kind of combined effect eventually resulted in a ZT improvement for the quinary compound Ca_1.14(2)Yb_3.86Al_1.68(1)In_0.32Sb₆ by approximately 4 times in comparison to its quaternary predecessor Ca_1.55(1)Yb_3.45Al₂Sb₆.

Anionic Doping and Cationic Site Preference in CaYb4Al2Sb6- xGe x ( x = 0.2, 0.5, 0.7): Origin of the Enhanced Seebeck Coefficient and the Structural Transformation

Three Zintl phase compounds belonging to the CaYb₄Al₂Sb_{6- x}Ge _x ( x = 0.2, 0.5, 0.7; nominal compositions) system with various Ge-doping contents were successfully synthesized by arc-melting and were initially crystallized in the Ba₅Al₂Bi₆-type phase (space group Pbam, Pearson codes oP26). However, after post-heat treatment at an elevated temperature, the originally obtained crystal structure was transformed into the homeotypic Ca₅Ga₂Sb₆-type structure according to powder and single-crystal X-ray diffraction analyses. Two types of crystal structures share some isotypic structural moieties, such as the one-dimensional anionic chains formed by _∞¹[Al₂Sb₈] and the void-filling Ca²⁺/Yb²⁺ mixed cations, but the slightly different spatial arrangements in each unit cell make these two structural types distinguishable. This series of title compounds is originally investigated to examine whether anionic p-type doping using Ge can successfully enhance thermoelectric (TE) properties of the Yb-rich CaYb₄Al₂Sb_{6- x}Ge _x series even after the phase transition from the Ba₅Al₂Bi₆-type to the Ca₅Ga₂Sb₆-type phase. More interestingly, we also reveal that the given structural transformation is triggered by the particularly different site-preference of Ca²⁺ and Yb²⁺ among three available cationic sites in each structure type, which is significantly affected by thermodynamic conditions of this system. Band structure and density of states analyses calculated by density functional theory using the tight-binding linear muffin-tin orbital method also prove that the Ge-doping actually increases band degeneracies and the number of resonant peaks near the Fermi level resulting in the improvement of Seebeck coefficients. Electron localization function analyses for the (0 1 0) sliced-plane and the 3D isosurface nicely illustrates the distortion of the paired-electron densities due to the introduction of Ge. The systematic TE property measurements imply that the attempted anionic p-type doping is indeed effective to improve the TE characteristics of the title CaYb₄Al₂Sb_{6- y}Ge _y system.

An impurity intermediate band due to Pb doping induced promising thermoelectric performance of Ca5In2Sb6

Band engineering is one of the effective approaches for designing ideal thermoelectric materials. Introducing an intermediate band in the band gap of semiconducting thermoelectric compounds may largely increase the carrier concentration and improve the electrical conductivity of these compounds. We test this hypothesis by Pb doping in Zintl Ca5In2Sb6. In the current work, we have systematically investigated the electronic structure and thermoelectric performances of substitutional doping with Pb on In sites at a doping level of 5% (0.2 e per cell) for Ca5In2Sb6 by using density functional theory combined with semi-classical Boltzmann theory. It is found that in contrast to Zn doping, Pb doping introduces a partially filled intermediate band in the band gap of Ca5In2Sb6, which originates from the Pb s states by weakly hybridizing with the Sb p states. Such an intermediate band dramatically increases the electrical conductivity of Ca5In2Sb6 and has little detrimental effect on its Seebeck coefficient, which may increase its thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT. Interestingly, a maximum ZT value of 2.46 may be achieved at 900 K for crystalline Pb-doped Ca5In2Sb6 when the carrier concentration is optimized. Therefore, Pb-doped Ca5In2Sb6 may be a promising thermoelectric material.

Thermoelectric properties of the Zintl phases Yb5M2Sb6(M = Al, Ga, In)

Zintl compounds of Yb₅M₂Sb₆(M = Al, Ga, and In) exhibit semimetallic properties with high p-type carrier concentrations, low resistivities and low Seebeck coefficients in agreement with our band structure calculations.

Yb5Ga2Sb6: a mixed valent and narrow-band gap material in the RE5M2X6 family

A new compound Yb5Ga2Sb6 was synthesized by the metal flux technique as well as high frequency induction heating. Yb5Ga2Sb6 crystallizes in the orthorhombic space group Pbam (no. 55), in the Ba5Al2Bi6 structure type, with a unit cell of a = 7.2769(2) Å, b = 22.9102(5) Å, c = 4.3984(14) Å, and Z = 2. Yb5Ga2Sb6 has an anisotropic structure with infinite anionic double chains (Ga2Sb6)(10-) cross-linked by Yb(2+) and Yb(3+) ions. Each single chain is made of corner-sharing GaSb4 tetrahedra. Two such chains are bridged by Sb2 groups to form double chains of 1/∞ [Ga2Sb6(10-)]. The compound satisfies the classical Zintl-Klemm concept and is a narrow band gap semiconductor with an energy gap of around 0.36 eV calculated from the electrical resistivity data corroborating with the experimental absorption studies in the IR region (0.3 eV). Magnetic measurements suggest Yb atoms in Yb5Ga2Sb6 exist in the mixed valent state. Temperature dependent magnetic susceptibility data follows the Curie-Weiss behavior above 100 K and no magnetic ordering was observed down to 2 K. Experiments are accompanied by all electron full-potential linear augmented plane wave (FP-LAPW) calculations based on density functional theory to calculate the electronic structure and density of states. The calculated band structure shows a weak overlap of valence band and conduction band resulting in a pseudo gap in the density of states revealing semimetallic character.