title: Nano-inclusions: a novel approach to tune the thermal conductivity of In2O3.
abstract: Indium oxides such as In2O3 based thermoelectric ceramics exhibit a figure of merit ZT ~0.5 above 1000 K, while optimized ZnO based thermoelectrics may reach ZT ~0.3 at 1273 K. A way to further optimize the thermoelectric performance is to tune the thermal conductivity. In this work, a reduction of the thermal conductivity greater than 30% has been observed. Combining thermal conductivity measurements, Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) images, X-ray Absorption Fine-structure spectroscopy (XAFS) data and Full Multiple Scattering calculations, we associated the phenomenon with an effective scattering of mid- and long-wavelength phonons by embedded ZnO nano-inclusions in the In2O3 matrix. The results suggest a protocol for the synthesis of new heat-designed materials for many novel applications, such as high ZT thermoelectrics, thermal crystals, heat optics devices, etc.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Synchrotron Radiation Facility, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100049, China. xuw@mail.ihep.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Bo
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Da-Bo
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yuan-Hua
authors.initials: YH
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.forename: Augusto
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Marcelli