Development of Inexpensive SiGe-FeSi2 Thermoelectric Nanocomposites

Abstract

This investigation presents cost-effective fabrication of n-type silicon germanium-iron disilicide nanocomposites using low-cost low-purity germanium-germanium oxide powder. Moreover, the probability of the reduction of oxide powders during the synthesis process was studied. X-ray diffraction (XRD) analysis indicated reduction of germanium oxide impurity in the synthesized material. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) along with the energy-dispersive spectrometer (EDS) showed a structure of dispersed iron disilicide particles embedded in silicon germanium matrix. The nanocomposite structure showed a moderate figure-of-merit, ZT, equal to 0.8. The ZT enhancement was related to both the nanocomposite structure and the reduction of germanium oxide.