Synthesis of Zintl Phase Metal Silicide Thermoelectric Materials in Magnesium/Zinc Flux.

Zintl phases have potential applications as thermoelectric materials for power generation and cooling owing to their complex crystal structures and unique electronic properties. We carried out reactions of silicon with barium and strontium in excess Mg/Zn flux to synthesize (Ba/Sr)MgSi Zintl phases, investigating the effect of varying Ba/Sr ratio on site mixing and thermoelectric properties. (Ba/Sr)MgSi compounds with 0 < < 3 are charge-balanced Zintl phases which adopt the hexagonal HoNiP structure type (space group 6̅2).

Effect of Ni Doping on the Thermoelectric Properties of YbCoZn.

Thermoelectric devices are both solid-state heat pumps and energy generators. Having a reversible process without moving parts is of high importance for applications in remote locations or under extreme conditions. Yet, most thermoelectric devices have a rather limited energy conversion efficiency due to the natural competition between high electrical conductivity and low thermal conductivity, both being essential conditions for achieving a high energy conversion efficiency.

Much more to explore with an oxidation state of nearly four: Pr valence instability in intermetallic -PrCoGe.

For some intermetallic compounds containing lanthanides, structural transitions can result in intermediate electronic states between trivalency and tetravalency; however, this is rarely observed for praseodymium compounds. The dominant trivalency of praseodymium limits potential discoveries of emergent quantum states in itinerant 4 systems accessible using Pr-based compounds. Here, we use in situ powder x-ray diffraction and in situ electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS) to identify an intermetallic example of a dominantly Pr state in the polymorphic system PrCoGe.

Crystal Growth and Physical Properties of Hybrid CoSn-YCoGe Structure Type LnCo(GeSn) (Ln = Y, Gd).

There is an ongoing interest in kagome materials because they offer tunable platforms at the intersection of magnetism and electron correlation. Herein, we examine single crystals of new kagome materials, LnCo(GeSn) (Ln = Y, Gd; = 0.11, 0.

Widely Varying Kondo and Magnetic Interactions in Molecule Gold Nanostructured Materials by Changing the Gold Nanoarchitecture.

Delocalized-localized electron interactions are central to strongly correlated electron phenomena. Here, we study the Kondo effect, a prototypical strongly correlated phenomena, in a tunable fashion using gold nanostructures (nanoparticle, NP, and nanoshell, NS) + molecule cross-linkers (butanedithiol, BDT). NP films exhibit hallmark signatures of the Kondo effect, including (1) a log temperature resistance upturn as temperature decreases in a metallic regime, and (2) zero-bias conductance peaks (ZBCPs) that are well fit by a Frota function near a percolation insulator transition, previously used to model Kondo peaks observed using tunnel junctions.