Efficient dopants for ZrNiSn-based thermoelectric materials

Four efficient n-type dopants have been found for ZrNiSn-based thermoelectric materials. These are Nb or Ta at the zirconium sites, and Sb or Bi at the tin sites. No suitable dopant was found for the nickel sites. In a alloy, a power factor of and a thermal conductivity of were measured at 300 K, resulting in a dimensionless figure of merit ZT = 0.12. These values are increased to and at 700 K.