ISIS Neutron and Muon Source Data Journal

Origin of ultra-low thermal conductivity in Zintl-type TlInTe2: An Inelastic Neutron Scattering Study

Abstract: Materials displaying ultralow lattice thermal conductivity (k_Lat) are crucial to realizing high performing thermoelectric materials to convert waste heat into electrical energy. Recently, we have discovered an ultralow lattice thermal conductivity (ca. 0.5 W/mK at 300 K) in Zintl-type TlInTe2 compound. First-principles DFT calculations in TlInTe2 reveals low-frequency optical modes arising from rattling Tl atoms and coupling to heat-carrying acoustic phonons through symmetry-allowed interactions. As such, we strongly believe that acoustic–optic anharmonic coupling is likely to play a central role in explaining the low thermal conductivity of TlInTe2. Inelastic Neutron Scattering (INS) data as a function of temperature will enable us to extract phenomenon on an atomic scale and help us to investigate the fundamental cause for the intrinsically low k_Lat in TlInTe2.

Principal Investigator: Dr Kanishka Biswas
Experimenter: Mr Moinak Dutta
Local Contact: Dr Duc Le
Experimenter: Mr Subhajit Roychowdhury
Experimenter: Dr David Voneshen
Experimenter: Miss Manisha Samanta

DOI: 10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1868000

ISIS Experiment Number: RB1868000

Publisher: STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source

Data format: RAW/Nexus
Select the data format above to find out more about it.

Data Citation

The recommended format for citing this dataset in a research publication is as:
[author], [date], [title], [publisher], [doi]

For Example:
Dr Kanishka Biswas et al; (2019): Origin of ultra-low thermal conductivity in Zintl-type TlInTe2: An Inelastic Neutron Scattering Study, STFC ISIS Neutron and Muon Source, https://doi.org/10.5286/ISIS.E.RB1868000

Data is released under the CC-BY-4.0 license.