In this study, the effect of Ag or Sb addition on the thermoelectric properties of PbTe including the Seebeck coefficient, the electrical resistivity, and the thermal conductivity, was studied in the temperature range from 323 to 723 K. The major carriers in the Ag-doped and the Sb-doped PbTe are holes and electrons, respectively. A degenerate semiconductor behavior in the electrical transport properties was observed in the Ag-doped, whereas the semi-metallic in the Sb-doped. It was suggested from the results of the Hall effect measurement and the Seebeck coefficient that the effective mass was significantly altered by the Sb-doping. The maximum dimensionless figure of merit, ZT, of Pb1−xAgxTe and Pb1−xSbxTe (x=0.1) alloys showed 0.27 and 0.62 at 723 K, respectively. Based on the analysis of the Seebeck coefficient of the Ag or the Sb-doped PbTe, the interaction between Ag and Sb in PbTe, as expected in the AgPbmSbTem+2 (LAST-m), may be supposed.

This work presents the results of studies on the thermal and electrical properties of sintered silicon nitride to investigate the effects of non-oxide additives. With regard to electrical transport properties, a high electrical resistivity of 1014 ∼ 1015 Ωcm at 323 K was observed with Si3N4 substrates. Typical electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity values of the Si3N4 substrates were 1015 Ωcm and 90 W/mK at room temperature, respectively. Based on the results of XPS measurement, it is suggested that the addition of Nb significantly improved oxygen gettering by the phases of Nb2O5. Based on the analysis of the thermal conductivity of Si3N4 substrates, it appears that the interaction between oxygen and Nb in Si3N4, enhanced the thermal conduction rate of Si3N4.

Effect of Sn doping on the thermoelectric properties of ErNiSb-based p -type half-Heusler compound Appl. Phys. Lett. 91, 062115 (2007); 10.1063/1.2769398 Room-temperature anisotropic, thermoelectric, and electrical properties of n -type ( Bi 2 Te 3 ) 90 ( Sb 2 Te 3 ) 5 ( Sb 2 Se 3 ) 5 and compensated p -type ( Sb 2 Te 3 ) 72 ( Bi 2 Te 3 ) 25 ( Sb 2 Se 3 ) 3 semiconductor alloysIn this study, the thermoelectric properties of AgPb m SbTe m+2 m = 12, 16,18,20,22, and 26͒, including the Seebeck coefficient, the electrical resistivity, and the thermal conductivity, were studied in the temperature range from 323 to 773 K. The Seebeck coefficient and the electrical resistivity exhibited the behavior of a degenerate semiconductor. The measured results of the carrier concentration supported the conclusions of the electrical transport properties. The lowest electrical resistivity and the thermal conductivity were observed, which leads to the best thermoelectric performance in LAST-18 and the dimensionless figure of merit ZT value of 0.8 at 773 K.

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We investigated the thermoelectric properties of the ternary half-Heusler compound, TiNiSn, when introducing C and N. The addition of C or N to TiNiSn leads to an enhanced power factor and a decreasing lattice thermal conductivity by point defect phonon scattering. The thermoelectric performances of TiNiSn alloys are significantly improved by adding 1 at. % TiN, TiC, and figure of merit (ZT) values of 0.43 and 0.34, respectively, can be obtained at 723 K. This increase in thermoelectric performance is very helpful in the commercialization of thermoelectric power generation in the mid-temperature range.