Implications of nanostructuring on the thermoelectric properties in half-Heusler alloys

High energy ball milled Zr0.25Hf0.75NiSn alloys subjected to spark plasma sintering show an enhanced thermoelectric figure of merit in comparison with its normal bulk material synthesized by arc-melting process. The enhancement is due to increase in Seebeck coefficient with simultaneous decrease in thermal conductivity which follows due to increase in the cell volume. Theoretical calculations find that volume expansion facilitates band narrowing effects leading to high Seebeck coefficient and that decreasing orbital overlap which results in weak bonding leads to dampening the phonon propagation in addition to the interface scattering of phonons from phase boundaries.