# Band alignment and scattering considerations for enhancing the thermoelectric power factor of complex materials: The case of Co-based half-Heuslers

## TL;DR

This study investigates how band alignment and scattering mechanisms influence the thermoelectric power factor in complex Co-based half-Heusler materials, revealing that benefits depend on detailed electronic and scattering properties.

## Contribution

It provides a comprehensive analysis of band alignment effects on thermoelectric performance considering realistic scattering scenarios beyond the constant relaxation time approximation.

## Key findings

- Band alignment benefits vary with scattering mechanisms.
- Strain can enhance power factor depending on band curvature.
- Band alignment is not universally advantageous.

## Abstract

Half-Heuslers, an emerging thermoelectric material group, has complex bandstructures with multiple bands that can be aligned through band engineering approaches, giving us an opportunity to improve their power factor. In this work, going beyond the constant relaxation time approximation, we perform an investigation of the benefits of band alignment in improving the thermoelectric power factor under different density of states dependent scattering scenarios. As a test case we consider the Co-based p-type half-Heuslers TiCoSb, NbCoSn and ZrCoSb. First, using simplified effective mass models combined with Boltzmann transport, we investigate the conditions of band alignment that are beneficial to the thermoelectric power factor under three different carrier scattering scenarios: i) the usual constant relaxation time approximation, ii) intra-band scattering restricted to the current valley with the scattering rates proportional to the density of states as dictated by Fermi's Golden Rule, and iii) both intra- and inter-band scattering across all available valleys, with the rates determined by the total density of states at the relevant energies. We demonstrate that the band-alignment outcome differs significantly depending on the scattering details. Next, using the density functional theory calculated bandstructures of the half-Heuslers we study their power factor behavior under strain induced band alignment. We show that strain can improve the power factor of half-Heuslers, but the outcome heavily depends on the curvatures of the bands involved, the specifics of the carrier scattering mechanisms, and the initial band separation. Importantly, we also demonstrate that band alignment is not always beneficial to the power factor.