Abstract
We report the synergistic optimization of the thermoelectric properties in p-type Bi0.48Sb1.52Te3 by the additional graphene. Highly dense Bi0.48Sb1.52Te3 + graphene (x wt%, x = 0, 0.05, 0.1 and 0.15) composites have been synthesized by zone-melting followed by spark plasma sintering. With the help of scanning electron microscopy, the graphene has been clearly observed at the edge of the grain in the composites. Due to the additional graphene, the composites show an improved power factor of 4.8 × 10−3 Wm−1K−2 with modified carrier concentration and suppressed lattice thermal conductivity. Consequently, synergistic optimization in electrical and lattice properties by additional graphene leads to a great improvement in the figure of merit ZT (1.25 at 320 K).
Highlights
Thermoelectric (TE) materials, which can realize direct conversion between thermal energy and electrical energy, have attracted increasing attention [1,2,3,4]
We have clearly observed the graphene in the composites, which is in the BiSbTe grain boundaries and at the edge of BiSbTe grains
Stoichiometric amounts of Bi0.48 Sb1.52 Te3 + graphene (x wt%, x = 0, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15) were weighted and charged into quartz tubes [29,30]
Summary
Thermoelectric (TE) materials, which can realize direct conversion between thermal energy and electrical energy, have attracted increasing attention [1,2,3,4]. Nanocomposite has been suggested to be an effective approach to synergistically tune the electrical and the thermal properties by introducing second phase nanoparticles into the matrix [12,13,14,15,16,17,18] Lots of materials, such as ZnAlO, WSe2 and silver, have been used as second phase nanoparticles to enhance the TE performance of Bi2 Te3 -based alloys [16,17,18,19]. We have clearly observed the graphene in the composites, which is in the BiSbTe grain boundaries and at the edge of BiSbTe grains This graphene shows synergistic effects to enhance the power factor and overall figure of merit ZT
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