Elastic constants of biogenic calcium carbonate.

Living organisms form complex mineralized composite architectures that perform a variety of essential functions. These materials are commonly utilized for load-bearing purposes such as structural stability and mechanical strength in combination with high toughness and deformability, which are well demonstrated in various highly mineralized molluscan shell ultrastructures. Here, the mineral components provide the general stiffness to the composites, and the organic interfaces play a key role in providing these biogenic architectures with mechanical superiority.

Amorphous-Like Ultralow Thermal Transport in Crystalline Argyrodite CuPS.

Due to their amorphous-like ultralow lattice thermal conductivity both below and above the superionic phase transition, crystalline Cu- and Ag-based superionic argyrodites have garnered widespread attention as promising thermoelectric materials. However, despite their intriguing properties, quantifying their lattice thermal conductivities and a comprehensive understanding of the microscopic dynamics that drive these extraordinary properties are still lacking. Here, an integrated experimental and theoretical approach is adopted to reveal the presence of Cu-dominated low-energy optical phonons in the Cu-based argyrodite CuPS.

Vacancy-mediated anomalous phononic and electronic transport in defective half-Heusler ZrNiBi.

Studies of vacancy-mediated anomalous transport properties have flourished in diverse fields since these properties endow solid materials with fascinating photoelectric, ferroelectric, and spin-electric behaviors. Although phononic and electronic transport underpin the physical origin of thermoelectrics, vacancy has only played a stereotyped role as a scattering center. Here we reveal the multifunctionality of vacancy in tailoring the transport properties of an emerging thermoelectric material, defective n-type ZrNiBi.

Macroscopic Disk Rotation by Means of Surface Acoustic Waves.

It is shown experimentally that a flat piezoelectric disk poled perpendicular to its surface and suspended on a thin thread can be rotated about 50° by two surface acoustic waves (SAWs) intentionally excited with different amplitudes and propagating in the opposite directions. The excitation of such counter-propagating SAWs with different amplitudes is based on the nonsymmetrical interdigital transducer with different angular width electrodes located along the disk radius. The angular width of each of the two electrodes per angular period is not change along the disk radius.

Microwave Acoustic Attenuation in CTGS Single Crystals.

This article presents a study of special material properties of the single crystalline material CaTaGaSiO (CTGS = Catangasite). The comparatively highly ordered crystal structure and acceptable piezoelectric strength make it a candidate for microacoustic applications under extreme conditions. Obviously, low-loss dynamic behavior is typical for this crystal which consequently enables high-temperature use.

Transport and Electromechanical Properties of CaTaGaSiO Piezoelectric Crystals at Extreme Temperatures.

Transport mechanisms in structurally ordered piezoelectric CaTaGaSiO (CTGS) single crystals are studied in the temperature range of 1000-1300 °C by application of the isotope O as a tracer and subsequent analysis of diffusion profiles of this isotope using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). Determined oxygen self-diffusion coefficients enable calculation of oxygen ion contribution to the total conductivity, which is shown to be small. Since very low contributions of the cations have to be expected, the total conductivity must be dominated by electron transport.

Discovery of TaFeSb-based half-Heuslers with high thermoelectric performance.

Discovery of thermoelectric materials has long been realized by the Edisonian trial and error approach. However, recent progress in theoretical calculations, including the ability to predict structures of unknown phases along with their thermodynamic stability and functional properties, has enabled the so-called inverse design approach. Compared to the traditional materials discovery, the inverse design approach has the potential to substantially reduce the experimental efforts needed to identify promising compounds with target functionalities.

Discovery of ZrCoBi based half Heuslers with high thermoelectric conversion efficiency.

Thermoelectric materials are capable of converting waste heat into electricity. The dimensionless figure-of-merit (ZT), as the critical measure for the material's thermoelectric performance, plays a decisive role in the energy conversion efficiency. Half-Heusler materials, as one of the most promising candidates for thermoelectric power generation, have relatively low ZTs compared to other material systems.