Tunable Electrical Conductivity and Simultaneously Enhanced Thermoelectric and Mechanical Properties in n-type Bi2 Te3.

Abstract

The recent growing energy crisis draws considerable attention to high‐performance thermoelectric materials. n‐type bismuth telluride is still irreplaceable at near room temperature for commercial application, and therefore, is worthy of further investigation. In this work, nanostructured Bi2Te3 polycrystalline materials with highly enhanced thermoelectric properties are obtained by alkali metal Na solid solution. Na is chosen as the cation site dopant for n‐type polycrystalline Bi2Te3. Na enters the Bi site, introducing holes in the Bi2Te3 matrix and rendering the electrical conductivity tunable from 300 to 1800 Scm–1. The solid solution limit of Na in Bi2Te3 exceeds 0.3 wt%. Owing to the effective solid solution, the Fermi level of Bi2Te3 is properly regulated, leading to an improved Seebeck coefficient. In addition, the scattering of both charge carriers and phonons is modulated, which ensured a high‐power factor and low lattice thermal conductivity. Benefitting from the synergistic optimization of both electrical and thermal transport properties, a maximum figure of merit (ZT) of 1.03 is achieved at 303 K when the doping content is 0.25 wt%, which is 70% higher than that of the pristine sample. This work disclosed an effective strategy for enhancing the performance of n‐type bismuth telluride‐based alloy materials.