Phonon Scattering and Suppression of Bipolar Effect in MgO/VO2 Nanoparticle Dispersed p-Type Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 Composites

Bismuth-Telluride-based compounds are unique materials for thermoelectric cooling applications. Because Bi2Te3 is a narrow gap semiconductor, the bipolar diffusion effect is a critical issue to enhance thermoelectric performance. Here, we report the significant reduction of thermal conductivity by d...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Materials 2021-05, Vol.14 (10), p.2506
Main Authors: Back, Song Yi, Yun, Jae Hyun, Cho, Hyunyong, Kim, Gareoung, Rhyee, Jong-Soo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Bismuth tellurides
Composite materials
Diffusion effects
Heat conductivity
Heat transfer
Investigations
Magnesium oxide
Nanoparticles
Phonons
Reduction
Scattering
Seebeck effect
Spectrum analysis
Temperature
Thermal conductivity
Thermoelectric cooling
Thermoelectric materials
Vanadium oxides
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Summary:Bismuth-Telluride-based compounds are unique materials for thermoelectric cooling applications. Because Bi2Te3 is a narrow gap semiconductor, the bipolar diffusion effect is a critical issue to enhance thermoelectric performance. Here, we report the significant reduction of thermal conductivity by decreasing lattice and bipolar thermal conductivity in extrinsic phase mixing of MgO and VO2 nanoparticles in Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 (BST) bulk matrix. When we separate the thermal conductivity by electronic κel, lattice κlat, and bipolar κbi thermal conductivities, all the contributions in thermal conductivities are decreased with increasing the concentration of oxide particle distribution, indicating the effective phonon scattering with an asymmetric scattering of carriers. The reduction of thermal conductivity affects the improvement of the ZT values. Even though significant carrier filtering effect is not observed in the oxide bulk composites due to micro-meter size agglomeration of particles, the interface between oxide and bulk matrix scatters carriers giving rise to the increase of the Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity. Therefore, we suggest the extrinsic phase mixing of nanoparticles decreases lattice and bipolar thermal conductivity, resulting in the enhancement of thermoelectric performance over a wide temperature range.
ISSN:1996-1944
1996-1944
DOI:10.3390/ma14102506