Effect of silicon and sodium on thermoelectric properties of thallium doped lead telluride based materials
Thallium (Tl)-doped lead telluride (Tl0.02Pb0.98Te) thermoelectric materials fabricated by ball milling and hot pressing have decent thermoelectric properties but weak mechanical strength. Addition of silicon (Si) nanoparticles strengthened the mechanical property by reducing the grain size and defect density but resulted in low electrical conductivity that was not desired for any thermoelectric materials. Fortunately, doping of sodium (Na) into the Si added Tl0.02Pb0.98Te brings back the high electrical conductivity and yields higher figure-of-merit ZT values of ~1.7 at 770 K. The ZT improvement by Si addition and Na doping in Tl0.02Pb0.98Te sample is the direct result of concurrent electron and phonon engineering by improving the power factor and lowering the thermal conductivity, respectively.
- Research Organization:
- Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
- DOE Contract Number:
- SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577
- OSTI ID:
- 1067084
- Journal Information:
- Nano Letters, Vol. 12 (5), Issue 5; Related Information: S3TEC partners with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (lead); Boston College; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; ISSN 1530-6984
- Publisher:
- American Chemical Society
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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