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Influence of porosity on the transport properties of Bi2Te3-based alloys by field-assisted sintering

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 May 2013

Zhihui Zhang ,
Joshua K. Yee ,
Peter A. Sharma ,
Nancy Yang  and
Enrique J. Lavernia
Zhihui Zhang
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616
Joshua K. Yee*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616
Peter A. Sharma
Affiliation:
Materials Physics, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94551-0969
Nancy Yang
Affiliation:
Energy Nanomaterials Sciences, Sandia National Laboratories, Livermore, California 94551-0969
Enrique J. Lavernia
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, Davis, California 95616
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: jkyee@ucdavis.edu
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Abstract

Retention of a nanostructure in thermoelectric materials through rapid sintering (e.g., field-assisted sintering) is generally associated with leaving certain amounts of porosity due to short sintering times. In this study, the influence of porosity on the thermoelectric transport properties in Bi2Te3-based alloys was studied by changing the sintering pressure during spark plasma sintering. N-type Bi2Te3 and p-type (Bi0.2Sb0.8)2Te3 were sintered at 673 K using pressures from 50 to 300 MPa to obtain different levels of porosity. Electrical resistivity, thermal conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, carrier concentrations, and Hall mobility were measured and characterized. The results show that increasing sintering pressure is effective in reducing porosity, which lowers electrical resistivity and increases the carrier concentrations. The transport properties were fitted to general effective medium equations and demonstrate that in p-type (Bi0.2Sb0.8)2Te3 sintered at high pressures, decreases in electrical resistivity and lattice thermal conductivity exceeded the Seebeck coefficient reduction, improving the thermoelectric figure of merit.

Keywords

sinteringthermoelectricporosity
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 28 , Issue 13: FOCUS ISSUE: Frontiers in Thin-Film Epitaxy and Nanostructured Materials , 14 July 2013 , pp. 1853 - 1861
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2013 

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