Effect of Sn Doping in (Bi^sub 0.25^Sb^sub 0.75^)^sub 2-x^Sn^sub x^Te^sub 3^ (0 [less than or equal to] x [less than or equal to] 0.1) on Thermoelectric Performance

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials 2016-03, Vol.45 (3), p.1441
• Main Authors: Cai, Zhengwei, Guo, Lijie, Xu, Xiaolong, Yan, Yanci, Peng, Kunling, Wang, Guiwen, Wang, Guoyu, Zhou, Xiaoyuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electric properties; Melting; Thermodynamics; Transmission electron microscopy
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-015-4061-5

Issue Title: 2015 International Conference on Thermoelectrics. Guest Editors: Jihui Yang, Matt Beekman, Donald Morelli, James Salvador, David Singh, Hsin Wang, Emmanuel Guilmeau, Juri Grin, Bertrand Lenoir, Xinfeng Tang, Wenqing Zhang, Chunlei Wan, TieJun Zhu, Ryoji Funahashi, Takao Mori, Tsunehiro Takeuchi, Sabah Bux We report the effect of Sn doping on the thermoelectric performance of (Bi^sub 0.25^Sb^sub 0.75^)^sub 2-x^Sn^sub x^Te^sub 3^ compounds (x = 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, 0.2) synthesized by the melting method followed by high-energy ball milling and spark plasma sintering. As indicated by transmission electron microscopy and scanning electron microscopy images, layered structure and inhomogeneous nanostructures are present in (Bi^sub 0.25^Sb^sub 0.75^)^sub 2-x^Sn^sub x^Te^sub 3^. It is found that Sn doping dramatically reduces the thermal conductivity together with a minor decline in the electrical conductivity, yielding a net enhancement of the figure of merit (ZT). The highest ZT value is approximately 1.03 at 338 K when x is 0.01, an increase of 28.4% compared with the pure sample.