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Effect of Aluminum Doping on Microstructures and Thermoelectric Properties of BiCuSeO Thermoelectric Materials

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Abstract

Bi1-xAlxCuSeO (x = 0, 0.025, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1, 0.125) thermoelectric materials had been prepared by a series of procedures as high energy ball milling, high temperature solid phase reaction and hot press sintering. The microstructures and thermoelectric properties of these thermoelectric materials had been researched. The results show that these thermoelectric materials are relatively pure in addition to very small amounts of impurities such as Bi2O3 and Al4Cu9; the structures of specimens present lamellar and tetragonal crystal system; they have good thermal stability in air. However, CuSe appears when x is 0.125, which is harmful to the thermal stability of the material. The values of carrier concentration, conductivity and ZT of most of the aluminum doping specimens are larger than those of the specimens without aluminum doping, and at 873 K when x is 0.075, the conductivity and the ZT value (the maximum value is 0.65) increases respectively about 6.5 times and 2.5 times.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by funded project of MOE Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Non-ferrous Metals and Materials, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Processing for Non-ferrous Metals and Featured Materials (2021GXMPSF02), and The First Batch of Guangxi Innovation-driven Development Projects in 2017 (Major Project of Science and Technology) (AA17202008).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Resources, Environment and Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Fei Xu, Anmin Li, Yu Rao, ZhuoFang Huang & Shanjun Wei

  2. MOE Key Laboratory of New Processing Technology for Non-Ferrous Metals and Materials, Guangxi Key Laboratory of Processing for Non-Ferrous Metals and Featured Materials, Guangxi University, Nanning, 530004, Guangxi, People’s Republic of China

    Anmin Li

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  1. Fei Xu
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Xu, F., Li, A., Rao, Y. et al. Effect of Aluminum Doping on Microstructures and Thermoelectric Properties of BiCuSeO Thermoelectric Materials. Trans Indian Inst Met 74, 2367–2377 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12666-021-02308-4

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