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Microstructure and thermoelectric properties of porous Bi2Te2.85Se0.15 bulk materials fabricated by semisolid powder processing

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  08 June 2015

Deqing Mei*
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control, School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China; and Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China
Hui Wang
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control, School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China; and Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China
Yang Li
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control, School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China; and Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China
Zhehe Yao
Affiliation:
State Key Laboratory of Fluid Power Transmission and Control, School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China; and Key Laboratory of Advanced Manufacturing Technology of Zhejiang Province, School of Mechanical Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China
Tiejun Zhu
Affiliation:
Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310027, People's Republic of China
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: meidq_127@zju.edu.cn
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Abstract

Semisolid powder processing (SPP) was used to fabricate n-type bismuth telluride-based polycrystalline bulk materials with improved thermoelectric properties. The minimum lattice thermal conductivity and the maximum ZT value of the SPP sample obtained in this study are 0.163 W m−1 K−1 at 383 K and 0.89 at 423 K, respectively. This ZT value exhibited a significant enhancement of 65.7 and 101.3% compared with the hot-pressing and the die-casting counterparts, respectively. The reduction of the lattice thermal conductivity is mainly due to the nanoscale grains and the mesoscale pores induced by the SPP. The grain boundaries and the interfaces brought by the porosities could scatter the phonons with mean free paths extensively from 300 nm to 1 μm. The remarkable enhancement of the ZT value and the convenient fabricating process suggest that the SPP is a promising method for mass production of high-performance bismuth telluride-based polycrystalline bulk materials.

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Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2015 

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References

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