Investigation of the microstructural and thermoelectric properties of the (GeTe)0.95 (Bi2Te3)0.05 composition for thermoelectric power generation applications

Abstract

In the frame of the current research, the p -type Bi2Te 3 doped (GeTe)0.95(Bi2Te3) 0.05 alloy composed of hot pressed consolidated submicron structured powder was investigated. The influence of the process parameters (i.e., powder particles size and hot pressing conditions) on both reduction of the lattice thermal conductivity and electronic optimization is described in detail. Very high maximal ZT values of up to ∼1.6 were obtained and correlated to the microstructural characteristics. Based on the various involved mechanisms, a potential route for further enhancement of the ZT values of the investigated composition is proposed. © 2014 Lior Weintraub et al.