Recent progress in Fe- and Ru-based full-Heusler bulk thermoelectrics.

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Solid State Physics
• Condensed Matter Physics

Background:

• Full-Heusler compounds are a diverse class of functional materials.
• Compounds with 24 valence electrons often exhibit semimetallic or narrow-gap semiconducting properties, suitable for thermoelectrics.
• Fe2VAl is an archetypal thermoelectric full-Heusler compound with over two decades of research.

Purpose of the Study:

• To review recent advancements in thermoelectric full-Heusler compounds, particularly Fe2VAl.
• To identify challenges hindering the development of competitive thermoelectric materials.
• To highlight novel routes for improving thermoelectric performance near room temperature.

Main Methods:

• Review of intrinsic and extrinsic substitution strategies.
• Analysis of grain boundary engineering techniques.
• Exploration of other material optimization approaches.

Main Results:

• Significant progress has been made in enhancing the thermoelectric performance of full-Heusler compounds.
• Various strategies including substitutions and grain boundary engineering have yielded improvements.
• Recent advancements pave the way for more competitive thermoelectric materials.

Conclusions:

• Full-Heusler compounds, especially Fe2VAl, hold significant potential for room-temperature thermoelectric applications.
• Overcoming current challenges requires continued research into novel optimization routes.
• These materials could become viable for energy harvesting and cooling applications.