Thermoelectric and thermophysical characteristics of Cu2Te- Tl2Te pseudo binary system

Abstract

We studied the thermoelectric and thermophysical properties of Cu 2Te-Tl2Te pseudo binary system. Polycrystalline samples of CuTl9Te5, Cu2Te and Tl2Te were prepared and characterized. All samples indicated positive values of the Seebeck coefficient and very low values of the thermal conductivity. The values of the thermal conductivity of CuTl9Te5 and Tl2Te at room temperature were 0.49 and 0.35 Wm-1 K-1, respectively. These very low thermal conductivity values could be associated with the material's thermophysical properties such as the average sound velocity. CuTl9Te5 was found to show relatively high thermoelectric figure of merit ZT; the maximum ZT value was 0.38 obtained at 592 K. © 2006 The Thermoelectrics Society of Japan.