Distinctive Electronic Characteristics and Ultra-high Thermoelectric Power Factor in Be-Fe Intermetallics

TL;DR

This study uncovers new Be-Fe intermetallics with unique structures and high thermoelectric performance, revealing Fe's unusual anionic role and expanding potential applications of Be alloys.

Contribution

First-principles discovery of five new Be-Fe intermetallics, including insulating and metastable phases, with insights into their electronic structure and thermoelectric properties.

Findings

Five new Be-Fe intermetallics discovered, including insulating Be11Fe.

Be11Fe exhibits the highest thermoelectric power factor among known semiconductors at room temperature.

Fe acts as an anion with valence states up to -5 in Be-Fe compounds.

Abstract

Beryllium (Be) alloys are indispensable in cutting-edge applications due to their unique advantages. However, the scientific understanding about their structure and property is deficient, which greatly restricts their applications within a narrow field. In this work, a systematic investigation on the structure and properties of Be-Fe binary was carried out with first-principles unbiased evolutionary algorithms. Five new intermetallics unreported before, including insulating Be11Fe and Be4Fe, metallic Be3Fe, and metastable BeFe and BeFe2 were discovered, among which Be11Fe has a unique clathrate structure and is an electride. Surprisingly, we found that Fe unexpectedly acts as an anion in all known Be-Fe intermetallics, and its valence state can even reach -5, leading to the complete filling of its 3d orbitals. Most of these compounds exhibiting a gap or pseudogap at the Fermi level. Specifically, the band gap is determined as 0.22 eV and 0.85 eV for Be11Fe and Be4Fe at the level of single-shot GW, respectively. This is the first report of insulating phases in Be-based intermetallics. We also discovered that Be11Fe exhibits an impressive thermoelectric power factor of 178 ${\mu}W cm^{-1}K^2$ at room temperature, to our best knowledge, the highest among known semiconductors under ambient conditions, indicating its potential for waste heat harvesting and active cooling. These findings will deepen our understanding of Be-based and Fe-based compounds, and expand the application fields of Be-based alloys to a brand-new realm.