Abstract: The present invention discloses a type of high figure of merit p-type FeNbHfSb thermoelectric material, whose composition is FeNb1-xHfxSb, wherein x=0.06˜0.2. The present invention also discloses the method to prepare these p-type FeNbHfSb thermoelectric materials. The ingots with nominal composition FeNb1-xHfxSb are prepared by levitation melting of stoichiometric amounts of Fe, Nb, Hf and Sb under an argon atmosphere. The obtained ingots are mechanically milled to get submicron-scale powders. The obtained powders are compacted by spark plasma sintering to obtain the final bulk p-type FeNbHfSb thermoelectric materials. The compositional elements of these p-type FeNbHfSb thermoelectric materials are abundant in the earth crust. The p-type thermoelectric materials also shows good high temperature stability and the preparation method are simple and high-yield. Therefore, the industrial production cost would be relatively cheap. The maximum zT value of the p-type thermoelectric materials is ˜1.

Abstract: A thermoelectric half-Heusler material comprising niobium (Nb), iron (Fe) and antimony (Sb) wherein the material comprises grains having a mean grain size less than one micron. A method of making a nanocomposite half-Heusler thermoelectric material includes melting constituent elements of the thermoelectric material to form an alloy of the thermoelectric material, comminuting (e.g., ball milling) the alloy of the thermoelectric material into nanometer scale mean size particles, and consolidating the nanometer size particles to form the half-Heusler thermoelectric material comprising at least niobium (Nb), iron (Fe) and antimony (Sb) and having grains with a mean grain size less than one micron.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a type of high figure of merit p-type FeNbHfSb thermoelectric material, whose composition is FeNb1-xHfxSb, wherein x=0.06˜0.2. The present invention also discloses the method to prepare these p-type FeNbHfSb thermoelectric materials. The ingots with nominal composition FeNb1-xHfxSb are prepared by levitation melting of stoichiometric amounts of Fe, Nb, Hf and Sb under an argon atmosphere. The obtained ingots are mechanically milled to get submicron-scale powders. The obtained powders are compacted by spark plasma sintering to obtain the final bulk p-type FeNbHfSb thermoelectric materials. The compositional elements of these p-type FeNbHfSb thermoelectric materials are abundant in the earth crust. The p-type thermoelectric materials also shows good high temperature stability and the preparation method are simple and high-yield. Therefore, the industrial production cost would be relatively cheap. The maximum zT value of the p-type thermoelectric materials is ˜1.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a type of high figure of merit p-type FeNbTiSb thermoelectric material, whose composition is FeNb1-xTixSb, wherein x=0.06˜0.24. The present invention also discloses the method to prepare these p-type FeNbTiSb thermoelectric materials. The ingots with nominal composition FeNb1-xTixSb are prepared by levitation melting of stoichiometric amounts of Fe, Nb, Ti and Sb under an argon atmosphere. The obtained ingots are mechanically milled to get submicron-scale powders. The obtained powders are compacted by spark plasma sintering to obtain the final bulk p-type FeNbTiSb thermoelectric materials. The compositional elements of these p-type FeNbTiSb thermoelectric materials are abundant in the earth crust. The p-type thermoelectric materials also shows good high temperature stability and the preparation method are simple and high-yield. Therefore, the industrial production cost would be relatively cheap. The maximum zT value of the p-type thermoelectric materials is 1.