Abstract
The interplay between minority and majority carriers in a narrow bandgap semiconductor can benefit their thermoelectric performance. Herein, the optimistic influence of in-situ nanocompositing in adjusting the balance between majority and minority carriers for the p-type BixSb2−xTe3 thermoelectric (TE) material is reported. A two-fold strategy of grain refinement via optimized heat treatment and nanocompositing via nanosized Te addition for BixSb2−xTe3 is explored. In the present homo-structural nanocomposite system, enhancement in power factor (PF) is benefited from the synergistic improvement in electrical conductivity (σ) and the Seebeck coefficient (S). Further, experimental and theoretical work illustrates that adjusting the antisite defects formation enlarges the bandgap and flattens the valence band edge, thereby increasing the Seebeck coefficient. Consequently, a high maximum figure of merit ZTmax of 1.46 is realized at operative temperature T ∼ 370 K (with Te content y = 4.0 wt%). These findings highlight the optimization of the heating process and the effectiveness of the optimal in-situ nanocompositing that can play a significant role in developing atomistic doping-induced nanocompositing based TE systems.
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