Significant Enhancement in the Thermoelectric Performance of a Bismuth Telluride Nanocompound through Brief Fabrication Procedures

Abstract

A binary BiTe nanocompound for thermoelectric applications was prepared via a water-based chemical reaction under atmospheric conditions. We attempted to increase the carrier mobility of the nanocompound by adopting a post-thermal treatment consisting of calcination and reduction at different temperatures. We also tried to control the carrier density of the compound by adjusting the stoichiometry of the atomic constituents. We measured other transport properties (i.e., electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity) and observed how these properties were affected by both the carrier mobility and the carrier density. We derived the thermoelectric performance, as captured by the figure of merit (ZT), from the transport properties and discussed the effect of such properties on the ZT value. The nanocompound exhibited a very competent ZT value (0.91 at 100 °C), which is one of the best thermoelectric performances of chemically synthesized BiTe materials. © 2012 American Chemical Society.