Enhancement Thermoelectric Properties of Cu_x-doped Nanostructure Bi-Sb-Te Thermoelectric Materials by Spark Plasma Sintering

Abstract

Nanostructure Cux-doped Bi0.5Sb1.5-xTe3 thermoelectric materials was successfully prepared by Mechanical alloys and spark plasma sintering. In the reasearch, the crystallinity, particle size, and chemical composition were characterized by XRD, EDS, respectively. Thermoelectric properties with a maximum ZT value up to 1.17 has been obtained at 407 K in prepared Cu0.04-doped Bi0.5Sb1.496Te3 sample. The achieved higher ZT value is attributed that Cu as doping at the Sb sites introduced additional holes to enhance carrier mobility and Cu dopants interrupted the periodicity of lattice vibration to decrease lattice thermal conductivity. It is suggested that the as-prepared nanostructure Cux-doped Bi0.5Sb1.5-xTe3 thermoelectric materials has high potential for thermoelectric energy conversion application.