Preparation of sintered degenerate n-type PbTe with a small grain size and its thermoelectric properties

被引:144
作者
Kishimoto, K [1 ]
Koyanagi, T [1 ]
机构
[1] Yamaguchi Univ, Dept Elect & Elect Engn, Yamaguchi 7558611, Japan
关键词
D O I
10.1063/1.1499206
中图分类号
O59 [应用物理学];
学科分类号
摘要
Sintered degenerate n-type PbTe samples with small grain sizes ranging from 0.7 to 4 mum were prepared and the effects of grain size on their thermoelectric properties were then investigated. The Seebeck coefficient of the sintered samples increased almost double when the grain size decreased from 4 to 0.7 mum. On the other hand, their electrical and thermal conductivity decreased with decreasing grain size. Accordingly, decreasing their grain size increased their thermoelectric figure-of-merit. A maximum value of the figure-of-merit of the obtained small grain-size samples was significantly higher than that of large grain-size samples with the same carrier concentration reported. This favorable result was caused mainly by the increase in the Seebeck coefficient. The influences of grain boundaries on the increase in the Seebeck coefficient were discussed. It is concluded that the Seebeck coefficient was increased by potential barrier scattering, which occurred at the grain boundaries in the sintered samples. (C) 2002 American Institute of Physics.
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页码:2544 / 2549
页数:6
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