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This work investigates the thermoelectric and electrical performance of nanostructured thin films of antimony (Sb)-doped Bi2Te3 (thickness ∼ 60 nm) and Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 (thickness ∼ 60 nm). The films were deposited on a glass substrate by thermal evaporation under high vacuum conditions. The structure and morphology of the films was investigated by standard characterization techniques. X-ray diffraction was used to identify the formation of different phases during the synthesis of the films. The Van der Pauw and Harman methods were employed to measure the conductivity (σ) and figure of merit (ZT). Further, samples were subjected to annealing under a high vacuum at 200°C for 1 h to improve the quality and ZT of the deposited films. The Sb-doped Bi2Te3 film was found to be ∼ 6.5 times more conductive than the Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 film. However, the two films exhibited comparable ZT values owing to the small value of the Seebeck coefficient (S) of Sb. This study represents a significant contribution in the field of thermoelectric materials and device applications.

Thermoelectric properties of high energy ball milled nano structured bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) have been reported. By high energy ball milling, alloyed bulk crystalline ingots crush into nanopowder and followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS), we have demonstrate high figure of merit (ZT) in bismuth telluride pellet samples. In this work systematic study carried out on three pellet samples of Bi2Te3, synthesized by high ball milling for the time period of 4 hours, 8 hours and 12 hours and followed by SPS at the same processing parameters. A peak value of dimensionless figure of merit of about 1.22 at the temperature of 473 K has been achieved for 8 hours ball milled pellet sample. This enhancement in ZT value is mostly due to decrease in thermal conductivity. Results of this study demonstrate that ball milling and SPS has a major effect in controlling the density of grain boundaries of Bi2Te3 nano particles, while the pressure exerted on the powder samples during SPS introduce stress at the boundaries of the crystallites. These disordered crystallite boundary regions exert scattering of thermal energy carriers which reduced the thermal conductivity of the materials.

Thermoelectric properties of n-type bismuth telluride and its nanocomposite reinforced with different concentration of multi wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are reported. Nanocomposites of bismuth telluride with MWCNTs were synthesized by using high energy ball milling followed by spark plasma sintering (SPS). MWCNTs reinforced nanocomposites of bismuth telluride resulted improvement in its figure of merit ZT from 0.76 (for Bi2Te3) to 0.85 (for Bi2Te3 + 2%MWCNTs) at 473K temperature. Thermoelectric parameters of nanocomposites of Bi2Te3 were characterized by Laser Flash Technique. The improvements found in ZT value may be due to decrease in thermal conductivity of the nanocomposites. Concentration of MWCNTs in bismuth telluride leads to dampening the phonon propagation with addition to the interface scattering of phonons from phase boundaries as well as grain boundaries which leads to decrease in thermal conductivity. Copyright © 2016 VBRI Press.