Hong, Min and Chen, Zhi G. and Yang, Lei and Zou, Jin (2016) BixSb2_xTe3 nanoplates with enhanced thermoelectric performance due to sufficiently decoupled electronic transport properties and strong wide-frequency phonon scatterings. Nano Energy, 20. pp. 144-155. ISSN 2211-2855
Abstract
Thermoelectric materials enable the direct conversion between heat and electricity, offering a sustainable technology to overcome the upcoming energy crisis. p-Type BixSb2-xTe3 systems potentially satisfy the criteria (i.e. large power-factor, and low thermal conductivity) for thermoelectric applications. Nanostructuring has been considered as an effective approach to enhance the thermoelectric performance. Here, we employed a rapid microwave-assisted solvothermal method to fabricate BixSb2-xTe3 nanoplates, securing a peak figure-of-merit of 1.2, caused by the obtained high power-factor of 28.3×10-4Wm-1K-2 and ultra-low thermal conductivity of 0.7Wm-1K-1. Based on the single Kane band model with a newly introduced variable (λEdef - the dimensionless λ representing the square root of ratio between the initial effective mass and the free electron mass, and Edef representing the deformation potential) to serve as the decoupling factor, we found that BixSb2-xTe3 nanoplates with tunable compositions can decrease λEdef and simultaneously optimize the reduced Fermi level to ultimately enhance the power-factor. Moreover, detailed structural characterizations reveal dense grain boundaries and dislocations in our nanostructures. These two phonon scattering sources in conjunction with the inherently existed Bi-Sb lattice disorders lead to a strong wide-frequency phonon scattering, and consequently result in a significantly decreased thermal conductivity. This study provides strategic guidance to develop high-performance thermoelectric materials by nanostructuring and compositional engineering to achieve ultra-low thermal conductivity and to maximize the power-factor.
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| Item Type: | Article (Commonwealth Reporting Category C) |
|---|---|
| Refereed: | Yes |
| Item Status: | Live Archive |
| Additional Information: | Permanent restricted access to Published version, in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. |
| Faculty / Department / School: | Current - Faculty of Health, Engineering and Sciences - No Department |
| Date Deposited: | 21 Jan 2019 04:37 |
| Last Modified: | 25 Feb 2019 05:04 |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | thermoelectricity; thermoelectric equipment; antimony telluride |
| Fields of Research : | 03 Chemical Sciences > 0302 Inorganic Chemistry > 030206 Solid State Chemistry 10 Technology > 1007 Nanotechnology > 100708 Nanomaterials 02 Physical Sciences > 0204 Condensed Matter Physics > 020403 Condensed Matter Modelling and Density Functional Theory 09 Engineering > 0912 Materials Engineering > 091205 Functional Materials |
| Identification Number or DOI: | 10.1016/j.nanoen.2015.12.009 |
| URI: | http://eprints.usq.edu.au/id/eprint/35474 |
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