Improved thermoelectric properties of nanostructured composites out of Bi1−xSbx nanoparticles and carbon phases

Thermoelectric figures of merit of ZT ≈ 0.4 at room temperature were achieved in nanostructured composite materials prepared by uniaxial pressing of Bi1−xSbx nanoparticles and 0.3 wt.% of a carbon phase. This constitutes a significant improvement of the low-temperature thermoelectric material Bi1−xSbx and strongly suggests the possibility of employing these materials in efficient thermoelectric devices working at room temperature. Interestingly, the beneficial effect of the carbon phase added to nanostructured Bi1−xSbx is the same for either carbon nanotubes or active carbon. This finding is attributed, on the one hand, to a combination of electronic band gap engineering due to nanostructuring and energy filtering due to graphene-like interlayers between Bi1−xSbx grains and, on the other hand, to modified phonon scattering at the grain boundaries and additional phonon scattering by agglomeration sites of carbon material on the μm scale

Improved thermoelectric properties of nanostructured composites out of Bi1−xSbx nanoparticles and carbon phases

Thermoelectric figures of merit of ZT ≈ 0.4 at room temperature were achieved in nanostructured composite materials prepared by uniaxial pressing of Bi1−xSbx nanoparticles and 0.3 wt.% of a carbon phase. This constitutes a significant improvement of the low-temperature thermoelectric material Bi1−xSbx and strongly suggests the possibility of employing these materials in efficient thermoelectric devices working at room temperature. Interestingly, the beneficial effect of the carbon phase added to nanostructured Bi1−xSbx is the same for either carbon nanotubes or active carbon. This finding is attributed, on the one hand, to a combination of electronic band gap engineering due to nanostructuring and energy filtering due to graphene-like interlayers between Bi1−xSbx grains and, on the other hand, to modified phonon scattering at the grain boundaries and additional phonon scattering by agglomeration sites of carbon material on the μm scale

Structural and Thermoelectric Properties of Bi1−xSbx Nanoalloys Prepared by Mechanical Alloying

Bi1−xSbx nanoparticles were prepared by mechanical alloying and compacted using different techniques. The influence of the composition as well as the pressing conditions on the thermoelectric performance was investigated. A strong dependence of the thermoelectric properties on the composition was found, which deviates from the behavior of single crystals. The results indicate a significant change in the band structure of the material induced by the reduced size. The influence of the pressing conditions on the thermoelectric properties also showed composition dependence. The results show that the compacting method has to be chosen carefully