Effect of composition on thermoelectric properties of polycrystalline CrSi2

Ingots with compositions CrSi2−x (with 0 < x < 0.1) were synthesized by vacuum arc melting followed by uniaxial hot pressing for densification. This paper reports the temperature and composition dependence of the electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity of CrSi2−x samples in the temperature range of 300 K to 800 K. The silicon-deficient samples exhibited substantial reductions in resistivity and Seebeck coefficient over the measured temperature range due to the formation of metallic secondary CrSi phase embedded in the CrSi2 matrix phase. The thermal conductivity was seen to exhibit a U-shaped curve with respect to x, exhibiting a minimum value at the composition of x = 0.04. However, the limit of the homogeneity range of CrSi2 suppresses any further decrease of the lattice thermal conductivity. As a consequence, the maximum figure of merit of ZT = 0.1 is obtained at 650 K for CrSi1.98