Decoupling of thermoelectric transport performance of Ag doped and Se alloyed tellurium induced by carrier mobility compensation

doi:10.1016/j.jmst.2021.05.067

Abstract

Abstract:

Alloying with Se is proved to be feasible to suppress the lattice thermal conductivity (κ_L) of tellurium by introducing multidimensional lattice defects. However, extra ionization impurity centers induced by Se alloying are harmful to the electric transport properties of the matrix. In this paper, we propose that the incorporation of Ag could successfully compensate the lost carrier mobility (μ_H) due to Se alloying through the regulation of microstructure, resulting in the higher power factor (PF) than that of samples without Ag. After composition optimization, the κ_L decreased from 1.29 W m^-1 K^-1 of Te_0.99Sb_0.01 to 1.05 W m^-1 K^-1 of Te_0.94Ag_0.02Se_0.03Sb_0.01 at 350 K, while the PF remained unchanged or even slightly increased. Benefit from the synergistic effect of carrier mobility compensation and phonon scattering, a maximum zT of 0.91 at 573 K and an average zT of 0.57 (between 298 and 573 K) are achieved in Te_0.94Ag_0.02Se_0.03Sb_0.01. This work presents a new strategy for decoupling the thermal and electric parameters of Te-based thermoelectric materials.

Key words: Te, Ag doping, Microstructure regulation, Mobility compensation

Yue Wu, Xiaofan Zhang, Boyi Wang, Jingxuan Liang, Zipei Zhang, Jiawei Yang, Ximeng Dong, Shuqi Zheng, Huai-zhou Zhao. Decoupling of thermoelectric transport performance of Ag doped and Se alloyed tellurium induced by carrier mobility compensation[J]. J. Mater. Sci. Technol., 2022, 101: 71-79.

Figures/Tables 8

Fig. 1. (a) Powder XRD patterns of Te0.97-xSb0.01Ag0.02Sex (x = 0, 0.01, 0.02, 0.03, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1) and (b) variation of calculated lattice parameters with components.

Fig. 2. SEM images of fractured surface for (a-c) the Te0.97-xSb0.01Sex (x = 0.05, 0.075, 0.10) and (d-f) Te0.97-xSb0.01Ag0.02Sex (x = 0.05, 0.075, 0.10).

Fig. 3. Temperature dependence of (a) Seebeck coefficient (S), (b) electrical resistivity (ρ), (c) power factor (PF), (d) total thermal conductivities (κtot), electronic thermal conductivity (κe), (e) lattice thermal conductivities (κL), and (f) zT values of Te0.97-xSb0.01Sex and Te0.97-xSb0.01Ag0.02Sex (x = 0.05, 0.075, 0.10).

Table 1 Parameters of Te0.99-x-ySb0.01SexAgy (x = 0, 0.05, 0.075, 0.1; y = 0, 0.02) at room temperature.

Composition	n_H (× 10¹⁸cm^-3)	S (μV K ^{- 1})	μ_H (cm² V ^{- 1} s ^{- 1})	m*	E_g (eV)
Te_0.99Sb_0.01	18.9	138	173	0.58	0.31
x = 0.05, y = 0	5.83	234	78	0.64	0.38
x = 0.075, y = 0	4.48	258	82	0.66	0.40
x = 0.10, y = 0	3.35	281	67	0.65	0.39
x = 0.05, y = 0.02	4.80	219	192	0.49	0.37
x = 0.075, y = 0.02	2.39	276	203	0.50	0.33
x = 0.10, y = 0.02	1.51	325	185	0.55	0.33

Fig. 4. Schematic diagram of the transition of micro morphology and phonon scattering for Ag/Se doped and alloyed samples.

Fig. 5. Temperature dependence of (a) Seebeck coefficient (S), (b) electrical resistivity (ρ), (c) power factor (PF) and (d) composition dependence of nH and μH for Te0.97-xAg0.02Sb0.01Sex (x = 0-0.03) samples.

Fig. 6. (a) Hall carrier concentration dependent S and (b) total thermal conductivities (κtot), electronic thermal conductivity (κe) and (c) lattice thermal conductivities (κL) as functions of temperature and (d) power factor (PF) and total thermal conductivities (κtot) at 350 K for Te0.97-xSb0.01Ag0.02Sex (x = 0-0.03).

Fig. 7. (a) Temperature dependence of zT values for Te0.97-xAg0.02Sb0.01Sex (x = 0-0.03) and the comparison to literature results [39,48,52] (b) A comparison of the average zT in the range of 298 K-573 K for Te-based samples [[39], [40], [41],48,52]. The gray dash line represents the zT values of pristine Te.

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