Suspension Characteristics and Electrophoretic Deposition of p-Type Bi2Te3 Films for Thermoelectric Applications

Abstract

Electrophoretic deposition (EPD) was utilized to prepare uniform crack-free Bi2Te3 films for thermoelectric applications effectively. A p-type Bi2Te3 film with a coherent structure and even thickness was deposited from Tetrahydrofuran (THF) suspensions and examined using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The specific weights of the depositions, the effective percentile coverage of the films on the substrate, the zeta potential and the electrical conductivity of different suspensions and the in-plane Seebeck coefficients of the Bi2Te3 films were measured. Although the Seebeck coefficient value of the EPD film (126 μV/K) was approximately 25% lower than the highest value reported for Bi2Te3 in the open literature via the co-sputtering method (160 μV/K), one of the most complex and expensive routes, the cost-effectiveness and speed of the simple EPD process is an undeniable advantage. This could open up new opportunities in the application of films to commercialize thermoelectric generators (TEG). It is interesting to note that the value of the Seebeck coefficient for our EPD-fabricated film was higher than for some of the other types of coatings prepared via more expensive and sophisticated fabrication routes, such as the electrodeposition technique (80 μV/K), for example.