| Abstract Scope |
Microstructure engineering can offer superior control over transport properties, critically impacting the performance of energy materials, including thermoelectrics. Maximizing this performance requires understanding how specific microstructures distinctly influence phonon and electron transport. However, this remains elusive due to the scarcity of local-scale investigations.
In this talk, I will present several examples demonstrating how thermal conductivity (κ) imaging can shed light on the local behavior of key microstructural features in energy materials.
Grain boundaries are found causing a local, microscale κ suppression, which shows marked variations in behavior according to misorientation angle, lattice symmetry, and interface morphology. In thermoelectric alloys, κ imaging can resolve microscale phase segregations, offering insights into the chemical heterogeneity within the sample. In Sb2S3, κ imaging on laser-patterned, rotating-lattice single crystals enables to investigate the effect of amorphization and crystal orientation.
Microscale property imaging allows to establish local structure-property correlations, enabling rational microstructure engineering in energy materials. |