Synergistic Optimization of Electrical-Thermal-Mechanical Properties of the In-Filled CoSb3 Material by Introducing Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 Nanoparticles

Jianglong Zhu; Zhiyuan Liu; Xin Tong; Ailin Xia; Dong Xu; Ying Lei; Jian Yu; Dingguo Tang; Xuefeng Ruan; Wenyu Zhao

doi:10.1021/acsami.1c03351

Synergistic Optimization of Electrical-Thermal-Mechanical Properties of the In-Filled CoSb₃ Material by Introducing Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ Nanoparticles

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 May 26;13(20):23894-23904. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c03351. Epub 2021 May 17.

Authors

Jianglong Zhu^{1

2}, Zhiyuan Liu^{1

2}, Xin Tong^{1

2}, Ailin Xia^{1

2}, Dong Xu^{1

2}, Ying Lei³, Jian Yu⁴, Dingguo Tang⁵, Xuefeng Ruan⁶, Wenyu Zhao⁷

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Green Fabrication and Surface Technology of Advanced Metal Materials, Ministry of Education, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan 243002, China.
² School of Materials Science and Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Hudong Road 59, Maanshan 243002, Anhui, China.
³ School of Metallurgical Engineering, Anhui University of Technology, Maanshan 243002, China.
⁴ School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering, Jiujiang University, Jiujiang 332005, China.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Catalysis and Energy Materials Chemistry of Ministry of Education & Hubei Key Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials Science, South-Central University for Nationalities, Wuhan 430074, China.
⁶ School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Wuhan 430072, China.
⁷ State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China.

PMID: 34000180
DOI: 10.1021/acsami.1c03351

Abstract

How to realize the synergistic optimization of electrical-thermal-mechanical properties of thermoelectric materials is a key challenge. Using the Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ nanoparticle as a mixed agent provides an effective way to address this challenge. Here, Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃/In_0.25Co₄Sb₁₂ nanocomposites with different contents of Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ nanoparticles were successfully prepared by ultrasonic dispersion combined with spark plasma sintering. Phase and microstructure characterization presented that Te nanoparticles were precipitated from Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ during the SPS sintering process. Transport measurement results showed that the electrical conductivity was increased due to the increased carrier concentration induced by the charge transfer between Te nanoparticles and the matrix. The Seebeck coefficient was also increased due to the selected electron scattering and increased scattering factor. The lattice thermal conductivity was dramatically suppressed because of the enhanced phonon scattering induced by the Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ nanoparticles and in situ-precipitated Te nanoparticles and increased dislocations. As a result, a higher average ZT value of 1 was obtained in the range of 300-700 K by the decoupling of the electrical and thermal transport properties for the nanocomposite with 0.1 wt % of Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ nanometer suspension. Furthermore, the flexural strength, fracture toughness, and hardness of the nanocomposites were also improved significantly. This work demonstrates that using the Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ nanoparticle as a mixed agent can realize the synergistic optimization of electrical-thermal-mechanical properties of the In-filled CoSb₃ thermoelectric material.

Keywords: Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 nanometer suspension; In-filled CoSb3 material; mechanical properties; synergistic optimization; thermoelectric properties.