Fabrication of Mg2Si from a Reused-silicon Source and its Thermoelectric Characteristics

Abstract

AbstractPolycrystalline Mg2Si was fabricated from a reused-Silicon source, based on Si sludge, using Spark Plasma Sintering technique. The n-type and p-type dopants, bismuth (Bi) and silver (Ag), respectively, were incorporated into the Mg2Si. The thermoelectric properties were estimated from 300 to 873K. The power factors of undoped and Bi-doped samples from the reused-Si source were comparable to those from a solar grade Si source (99.99999%). The power factor was estimated to be 2.5 × 10-5 W/cmK2 for the Bi-doped sample from the reused-Si source. However, the power factor of the Ag-doped, p-type sample from the reused-Si source was lower than that from solar grade Si source. The dimensionless figures of merit of samples from the resused-Si source were slightly lower than those from a solar grade Si source. The dimensionless figure of merit was estimated to be 0.53 at 812 K for Bi-doped sample from the reused-Si source.