Grain boundary segregation mediated highly stable and high performance nanostructured MgAgSb bulk thermoelectric materials

Grain boundary segregation mediated highly stable and high performance nanostructured MgAgSb bulk thermoelectric materials

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Lei Jiao^a, Liangjun Xie^b, Yu-Ke Zhu^a^,^b, Lankun Wang^a, Yuxin Sun^b, Yuan Yu^c, Alexandra Ivanova^d, Vladimir Khovaylo^d, Fengkai Guo^b, Wei Cai^b, Jiehe Sui^b, Zihang Liu^a^,^*

Transactions of Materials Research | 2025, 1(1) : 100016

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Transactions of Materials Research | 2025, 1(1): 100016

• METALLIC MATERIALS •

Grain boundary segregation mediated highly stable and high performance nanostructured MgAgSb bulk thermoelectric materials

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Lei Jiao^a, Liangjun Xie^b, Yu-Ke Zhu^a^,^b, Lankun Wang^a, Yuxin Sun^b, Yuan Yu^c, Alexandra Ivanova^d, Vladimir Khovaylo^d, Fengkai Guo^b, Wei Cai^b, Jiehe Sui^b, Zihang Liu^a^,^*

Affiliations

^aState Key Laboratory of Precision Welding & Joining of Materials and Structures, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

^bNational Key Laboratory for Precision Hot Processing of Metals, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

^cInstitute of Physics (IA), RWTH Aachen University, Sommerfeldstraβe 14, Aachen, 52074, Germany

^dNational University of Science and Technology (NUST MISIS), Moscow, 119049, Russia

Published: 2025-04-09 doi: 10.1016/j.tramat.2025.100016

Outline

Abstract

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We systematically elaborate the thermal stability mechanism of MgAgSb-based materials through thermodynamic and kinetic analysis of grain boundary characterizations. By proposing the general strategy of grain boundary segregation engineering (GBSE) to improve the stability of nanostructured bulk thermoelectric materials, it is found that excessive Cu doping can modify the microstructure to enhance stability as both Ag and Cu segregation coexist at the grain boundary. After annealing at elevated temperature, the final performance is almost unchanged with a high room-temperature dimensionless figure-of-merit zT of around 0.7, in contrast to property deterioration of pure MgAgSb. As revealed by atom probe tomography (APT) measurements, Cu segregation inhibits grain boundary migration and hinders grain growth, due to the additional reduced grain boundary energy and mobility. Our work provides new insights into the critical role of grain boundary segregation in the properties optimization and thermal stability enhancement, which opens up alternative perspectives for designs of highly stable and high-performance nanostructured thermoelectric materials.

Key words

Thermal stability / Nanostructure / Thermoelectric / Grain boundary / MgAgSb

Cite this Article

Lei Jiao, Liangjun Xie, Yu-Ke Zhu, Lankun Wang, Yuxin Sun, Yuan Yu, Alexandra Ivanova, Vladimir Khovaylo, Fengkai Guo, Wei Cai, Jiehe Sui, Zihang Liu. Grain boundary segregation mediated highly stable and high performance nanostructured MgAgSb bulk thermoelectric materials[J]. Transactions of Materials Research, 2025 , 1 (1) : 100016 - . DOI: 10.1016/j.tramat.2025.100016

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Funding

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National Natural Science Foundation of China(22409043; 52130106; 523B2020)
Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province(LH2023E032)
State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials(20232507)

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Year 2025 volume 1 Issue 1

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Article Info

doi: 10.1016/j.tramat.2025.100016

Receive Date：2025-03-21
Online Date：2026-06-10
Published：2025-04-09

Article Data

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History

Received：2025-03-21
Revised：2025-04-08
Accepted：2025-04-08

Funding

National Natural Science Foundation of China(22409043; 52130106; 523B2020)

Natural Science Foundation of Heilongjiang Province(LH2023E032)

State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Materials(20232507)

Affiliations

^aState Key Laboratory of Precision Welding & Joining of Materials and Structures, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

^bNational Key Laboratory for Precision Hot Processing of Metals, Harbin Institute of Technology, Harbin, 150001, China

^cInstitute of Physics (IA), RWTH Aachen University, Sommerfeldstraβe 14, Aachen, 52074, Germany

^dNational University of Science and Technology (NUST MISIS), Moscow, 119049, Russia

Corresponding:

^* E-mail address: zihangliu@hit.edu.cn (Z. Liu).

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表12种不同金属材料的力学参数

科 Family	属数 Number of genus	种数 Number of species	占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%)	属 Genus	种数 Number of species	占总种数比例 Percentage of total species (%)
鹅膏菌科Amanitaceae	2	11	5.26	鹅膏菌属 Amanita	10	4.78
小菇科 Mycenaceae	2	12	5.74	丝盖伞属 Inocybe	5	2.39
多孔菌科 Polyporaceae	8	14	6.70	蜡蘑属 Laccaria	5	2.39
红菇科 Russulaceae	3	23	11.00	小皮伞属 Marasmius	6	2.87
				小菇属 Mycena	11	5.26
				光柄菇属 Pluteus	5	2.39
				红菇属 Russula	17	8.13
				栓菌属 Trametes	5	2.39

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