Preparation and Electrothermal Transport Behavior of Sn8[(Ga2Te3)34(SnTe)66]92 Bulk Glass

Abstract

High-conductivity tellurium-based glasses were anticipated to be the attractive candidates in chalcogenide glass systems on account of their distinctive characteristics and extensive application prospects. In this paper, the high-density (>96%) Sn8[(Ga2Te3)34(SnTe)66]92 bulk glass with the density of 5.5917 g/cm3 was successfully prepared by spark plasma sintering (SPS) technology at 460 K, using a 5 min dwell time and 450 MPa pressure. The room-temperature thermal conductivity of Sn8 bulk materials significantly decreased from 1.476 W m−1∙K−1 in the crystalline sample to 0.179 W m−1∙K−1 in the glass, and the Seebeck coefficient obviously increased from 35 μV∙K−1 in to 286 μV∙K−1, indicating that the glass transition of tellurium-based semiconductors could optimize the thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of the materials. Compared to the conventional tellurium-based glassy systems, the fabricated Sn8 bulk glass presented a high room-temperature conductivity (σ = 6.2 S∙m−1) and a large glass transition temperature (Tg = 488 K), which was expected to be a promising thermoelectric material.