Dark, photo and thermally driven conductivity of Ag-mixed Se70Te30 semiconducting thin films for thermoelectric applications.

The Ag-mixed Se 70 Te 30 thermally deposited semiconducting thin films show interesting thermoelectric properties. As the Ag content in the structure of Se 70 Te 30 increases, the Seebeck coefficient increases. The semiconductive thin films reveal a p-type behavior. The dark conductivity increases at 300 K, whereas a reduction in corresponding activation energy for dark, photo and thermal response is observed with the increase in the Ag content. It is elucidated that the power factor for Se 70 Te 30 100 - x Ag x (0.0 ≤ x ≤ 8.0 at. %) semiconducting thin films can be tuned and enhanced at varied temperature ranges through adjusting the addition amount of Ag. These results indicate that these semiconducting thin films have remarkable potential as thermoelectric generators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]