Abstract
Heavily doped compounds Mo 3Sb 7-xTe x (x = 0, 1.0, 1.4, 1.8) were synthesized by solid state reaction and sintered by spark plasma sintering. Both X-ray diffraction and electron probe microanalysis indicated the maximum solubility of Te was around x = 1.8. The trends in the electrical transport properties can generally be understood using a single parabolic band model, which predicts that the extremely high carrier concentration of Mo 3Sb 7 (∼10 22 cm -3) can be reduced to a nearly optimized level (∼2 × 10 21 cm -3) for thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) by Te-substitution with x = 1.8. The increased lattice thermal conductivity by Te-doping was found to be due to the decreased Umklapp and electron-phonon scattering, according to a Debye model fitting. The thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) monotonously increased with increasing temperature and reached its highest value of about 0.51 at 850 K for the sample with x = 1.8, making these materials competitive with the state-of-the-art thermoelectric SiGe alloys. Evidence of significant electron-phonon scattering is found in the thermal conductivity.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 4086-4095 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Energy and Environmental Science |
Volume | 4 |
Issue number | 10 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Oct 2011 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Environmental Chemistry
- Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
- Nuclear Energy and Engineering
- Pollution