High Seebeck coefficient and ultra-low lattice thermal conductivity in Cs2InAgCl6

The elastic, electronic and thermoelectric properties of indium-based double-perovskite halide, Cs2InAgCl6 have been studied by first principles study. The Cs2InAgCl6 is found to be elastically stable, ductile, anisotropic and relatively low hard material. The calculated direct bandgap 3.67 eV by TB-mBJ functional fairly agrees with the experimentally measured value 3.3 eV but PBE functional underestimates the bandgap by 1.483 eV. The relaxation time and lattice thermal conductivity have been calculated by using relaxation time approximation (RTA) within the supercell approach. The lattice thermal conductivity (\k{appa}l) is quite low (0.2 Wm-1K-1). The quite low phonon group velocity in the large weighted phase space, and high anharmonicity (large phonon scattering) are responsible for small \k{appa}l. The room temperature Seebeck coefficient is 199 {\mu}VK-1. Such high Seebeck coefficient arises from the combination of the flat conduction band and large bandgap. We obtain power factors at 300K by using PBE and TB-mBJ potentials are ~29 and ~31 mWm-1K-2, respectively and the corresponding thermoelectric figure of merit of Cs2BiAgCl6 are 0.71 and 0.72. However, the maximum ZT value obtained at 700K is ~0.74 by TB-mBJ potential. The obtained results implies that Cs2InAgCl6 is a promising material for thermoelectric device applications.Comment: 19 pages. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1801.0370

Thermal conductivity in large-JJ two-dimensional antiferromagnets: Role of phonon scattering

Motivated by the recent heat transport experiments in 2D antiferromagnets, such as La$_2$CuO$_4$, where the exchange coupling $J$ is larger than the Debye energy $\Theta_{\rm D}$, we discuss different types of relaxation processes for magnon heat current with a particular focus on coupling to 3D phonons. We study thermal conductivity by these in-plane magnetic excitations using two distinct techniques, Boltzmann formalism within the relaxation-time approximation and memory-function approach. Within these approaches, a close consideration is given to the scattering of magnons by both acoustic and optical branches of phonons. A remarkable accord between the two methods with regards to the asymptotic behavior of the effective relaxation rates is demonstrated. Additional scattering mechanisms, due to grain boundaries, impurities, and finite correlation length in the paramagnetic phase, are discussed and included in the calculations of the thermal conductivity $\kappa(T)$. Again, we demonstrate a close similarity of the results from the two techniques of calculating $\kappa(T)$. Our complementary approach strongly suggests that scattering from optical or zone-boundary phonons is important for magnon heat current relaxation in a high temperature window of $\Theta_D\lesssim T \ll J$.Comment: 21+ pages, 16 figure