Enhancing the Thermoelectric Performance of n-Type MgSbBi by Reducing Lattice Thermal Conductivity through the Incorporation of Chlorine-Containing Compounds.

MgSb-based thermoelectric materials are characterized by their economic efficiency, nontoxicity, and environmental friendliness and represent a highly promising and eco-friendly functional material for midtemperature applications. To achieve a higher thermoelectric performance, we introduced two compounds, LaCl and CeCl, into MgSbBi under the guidance of first-principles calculations. The MgSbBi + 0.

Kirigami-Inspired Three-Dimensional Metamaterials with Programmable Isotropic and Orthotropic Thermal Expansion.

Mechanical metamaterials with specifically designed cells can provide unusual thermal expansion properties for diverse applications. Limited by very few available cell topologies and complicated non-linear structural deformation, most existing thermal expansion metamaterials can only achieve orthogonally isotropic negative/zero/positive thermal expansion (NTE/ZTE/PTE) within a mild range, especially the 3D ones. Here, based on one-degree-of-freedom kirigami polyhedrons proposed with a kinematic design strategy, a family of 3D isotropic and orthotropic metamaterials capable of programmable NTE, PTE, and even ZTE over ultra-wide range is developed.

Achieving High Thermoelectric Performance in ZnSe-Doped CuGaTe by Optimizing the Carrier Concentration and Reducing Thermal Conductivity.

The CuGaTe thermoelectric material has garnered widespread attention as an inexpensive and nontoxic material for mid-temperature thermoelectric applications. However, its development has been hindered by its low intrinsic carrier concentration and high thermal conductivity. This study investigates the band structure and thermoelectric properties of (CuGaTe) (ZnSe) ( = 0, 0.

Engineering zero modes in transformable mechanical metamaterials.

In the field of flexible metamaterial design, harnessing zero modes plays a key part in enabling reconfigurable elastic properties of the metamaterial with unconventional characteristics. However, only quantitative enhancement of certain properties succeeds in most cases rather than qualitative transformation of the metamaterials' states or/and functionalities, due to the lack of systematic designs on the corresponding zero modes. Here, we propose a 3D metamaterial with engineered zero modes, and experimentally demonstrate its transformable static and dynamic properties.