Piezoelectricity in half-Heusler narrow-bandgap semiconductors
Yi Huang, Fu Lv, Shen Han, Mengzhao Chen, Yuechu Wang, Qianhui Lou, Chenguang Fu, Yu Huang, Di Wu, Fei Li, Tiejun Zhu
Abstract
Piezoelectricity is primarily observed in noncentrosymmetric insulators or wide bandgap semiconductors. We report the observation of the piezoelectric (PE) effect in half-Heusler (HH) narrow-bandgap semiconductors TiNiSn, ZrNiSn, and TiCoSb. These materials exhibit shear PE strain coefficients that reach ~38 and 33 picocoulombs per newton in ZrNiSn and TiCoSb, respectively, which are high values for noncentrosymmetric nonpolar materials. We demonstrated a TiCoSb-based PE sensor with a large voltage response and capable of charging a capacitor. The PE effect in HHs remains thermally stable up to 1173 kelvin, underscoring their potential for high-temperature applications. Our observations suggest that these HH narrow-bandgap semiconductors may find promising applications for advanced multifunctional technologies.