Unified mobility model for grain‑boundary‑limited transport in polycrystalline thermoelectric materials

Yusuf, Gbadebo Taofeek, Singh, Sukhwinder, Askounis, Alexandros, Stoeva, Zlatka and Tchuenbou-Magaia, Fideline 2025. Unified mobility model for grain‑boundary‑limited transport in polycrystalline thermoelectric materials. Materialia 44 , 102550. 10.1016/j.mtla.2025.102550 Item availability restricted.

PDF - Accepted Post-Print Version Restricted to Repository staff only until 8 September 2026 due to copyright restrictions. Available under License Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives. Download (741kB)

Abstract

Grain-boundary-limited charge transport is a fundamental bottleneck in polycrystalline thermoelectric materials, where reduced carrier mobility degrades electrical conductivity and suppresses power factors. This degradation arises from the interplay of scattering mechanisms: grain-boundary barriers dominate at low temperatures; thermionic activation enables partial barrier crossing at intermediate temperatures; and phonon scattering limits the mean free path at high temperatures. Hence, there remains a need for a physically transparent framework to quantitatively extract these microstructural parameters. In this study, a semi-empirical mobility model that explicitly integrates these grain-boundary mechanisms was developed and validated... This framework provides concrete, process-addressable targets for grain-boundary engineering and mobility-driven performance gains.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	Schools > Engineering
Additional Information:	License information from Publisher: LICENSE 1: Title: This article is under embargo with an end date yet to be finalised.
Publisher:	Elsevier
ISSN:	2589-1529
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	19 September 2025
Date of Acceptance:	7 September 2025
Last Modified:	19 Sep 2025 15:30
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/181125

Actions (repository staff only)

Edit Item