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Thermoelectric properties of Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3-based composites with silicon nano-inclusions

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Abstract

Si/Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 bulk composites have been prepared by combining mechanical alloying with spark plasma sintering, and their thermoelectric properties have been investigated in the temperature ranges from 298 K to 498 K. The results indicate that with silicon content increasing, the thermopower (S) of the composite system increases substantially. Simultaneously, silicon nano-inclusions cause significant reduction in thermal conductivity (κ) owing to the decreased electrical conductivity and the enhanced phonon scattering of nanoparticles as well as phase boundaries. For the 0.5 vol% Si/Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 sample, S increases to 224.6 µV K−1 from 210.6 μV K−1 for the sample without silicon and κ decreases to 0.96 Wm−1 K−1 at 423 K from 1.07 Wm−1 K−1 for the sample without silicon, respectively. As a result, the highest ZT of 1.36 is obtained at 423 K of the 0.5 vol% Si/Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 sample.

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Acknowledgement

Financial supports from the Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant no. 51672278 is greatly acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Shanghai Institute of Technology, 100 Haiquan Road, Shanghai, 201418, People’s Republic of China

    Yunchen Dou, Xiaodong Yan, Yong Du & Jiayue Xu

  2. Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hefei, 230031, People’s Republic of China

    Di Li

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  1. Yunchen Dou
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  2. Xiaodong Yan
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  3. Yong Du
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  4. Jiayue Xu
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  5. Di Li
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Correspondence to Yunchen Dou or Di Li.

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Dou, Y., Yan, X., Du, Y. et al. Thermoelectric properties of Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3-based composites with silicon nano-inclusions. J Mater Sci: Mater Electron 31, 4808–4814 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10854-020-03042-1

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