Enhanced figure of merit in nanostructured (Bi,Sb)2Te3 with optimized composition, prepared by a straightforward arc-melting procedure
Sb-doped Bi2Te3 is known since the 1950s as the best thermoelectric material for near-room temperature operation. Improvements in material performance are expected from nanostructuring procedures. We present a straightforward and fast method to synthesize already nanostructured pellets that show an...
| Autores: | , , , , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2017 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM) |
| Repositorio: | Docta Complutense |
| Idioma: | inglés |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/91844 |
| Acceso en línea: | https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/91844 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | 536 Termodinámica 2213 Termodinámica |
| Sumario: | Sb-doped Bi2Te3 is known since the 1950s as the best thermoelectric material for near-room temperature operation. Improvements in material performance are expected from nanostructuring procedures. We present a straightforward and fast method to synthesize already nanostructured pellets that show an enhanced ZT due to a remarkably low thermal conductivity and unusually high Seebeck coefficient for a nominal composition optimized for arc-melting: Bi0.35Sb1.65Te3. We provide a detailed structural analysis of the Bi2−xSbxTe3 series (0 ≤ x ≤ 2) based on neutron powder diffraction as a function of composition and temperature that reveals the important role played by atomic vibrations. Arc-melting produces layered platelets with less than 50 nm-thick sheets. The low thermal conductivity is attributed to the phonon scattering at the grain boundaries of the nanosheets. This is a fast and cost-effective production method of highly efficient thermoelectric materials. |
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