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Enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit in n-type Cu0.008Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 by using Nb doping

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Abstract

Doping with foreign atom has been shown to be an effective way to enhance the dimensionless figure of merit ZT of Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric raw materials. Herein, we report that doping with Nb is effective in enhancing the Seebeck coefficient of n-type Cu0.008Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 polycrystalline bulks. Considering compensation of the Seebeck coefficient due to decrease of the electrical conductivity in Nb-doped compositions, the absolute value of Seebeck coefficient rather increased benefiting from an enhancement of the density of states (DOS) effective mass m* from 1.09m 0 (Cu0.008Bi2Te2.7Se0.3) to 1.21m 0 − 1.27m 0 (Cu0.008Bi2−x Nb x Te2.7Se0.3) due to a DOS engineering effect. The values of ZT were 0.84 at 300 K and 0.86 at 320 K for Cu0.008Bi1.99Nb0.01Te2.7Se0.3. This compositional tuning approach highlights the possibility of further enhancement of ZT for n-type Bi2Te3-based compounds by using a combination of nanostructuring technologies to reduce the thermal conductivity.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Nano Applied Engineering, Kangwon National University, Chuncheon, 24341, Korea

    Kyu Hyoung Lee

  2. Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute, Changwon, 51543, Korea

    Byungki Ryu

  3. Advanced Materials Engineering, Daejeon University, Daejeon, 34520, Korea

    Hee Jung Park

  4. Department of Physics, Kunsan National University, Kunsan, 54150, Korea

    Kimoon Lee

  5. Materials R&D Center, Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, Suwon, 16678, Korea

    Jong Wook Roh, Sang Il Kim & Sungwoo Hwang

  6. Korea University of Technology and Education, Cheonan, 31253, Korea

    Soon-Mok Choi

  7. Icheon branch, Korea Institute of Ceramic Engineering and Technology, Icheon, 17303, Korea

    Jong-Young Kim

  8. Department of Electrical Engineering, Kwangwoon University, Seoul, 01897, Korea

    Jeong Hoon Lee

  9. Electrochemistry Department, Korea Institute of Materials Science, Changwon, 51508, Korea

    Jae-Hong Lim

  10. Department of Energy Science, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, 16419, Korea

    Sung Wng Kim

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  1. Kyu Hyoung Lee
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  2. Byungki Ryu
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  7. Sungwoo Hwang
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  8. Soon-Mok Choi
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  9. Jong-Young Kim
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  10. Jeong Hoon Lee
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  12. Sung Wng Kim
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sungwoo Hwang.

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Lee, K.H., Ryu, B., Park, H.J. et al. Enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit in n-type Cu0.008Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 by using Nb doping. Journal of the Korean Physical Society 68, 7–11 (2016). https://doi.org/10.3938/jkps.68.7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3938/jkps.68.7

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