Recent Advances in Nanostructured Thermoelectric Half-Heusler Compounds

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent progress in nanostructured Half-Heusler alloys, highlighting their enhanced thermoelectric performance for industrial waste heat recovery and discussing future research directions.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of recent advances in nanostructuring strategies for improving Half-Heusler thermoelectric materials.

Findings

Nanostructuring significantly enhances TE performance of HH alloys.

Various synthesis techniques for HH nanocomposites are discussed.

Future research directions are identified for further improvements.

Abstract

Half-Heusler (HH) alloys have attracted considerable interest as promising thermoelectric (TE) materials in the temperature range around 700 K and above, which is close to the temperature range of most industrial waste heat sources. The past few years have seen nanostructuing play an important role in significantly enhancing the TE performance of several HH alloys. In this article, we briefly review the recent progress and advances in these HH nanocomposites. We begin by presenting the structure of HH alloys and the different strategies that have been utilized for improving the TE properties of HH alloys. Next, we review the details of HH nanocomposites as obtained by different techniques. Finally, the review closes by highlighting several promising strategies for further research directions in these very promising TE materials.