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Effects of Nb doping on thermoelectric properties of Zn4Sb3 at high temperatures

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 January 2011

D. Li ,
H.H. Hng ,
J. Ma  and
X.Y. Qin
J. Ma
Affiliation:
School of Materials Science & Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore 639798, Singapore
X.Y. Qin
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Materials Physics, Institute of Solid State Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 230031 Hefei, People's Republic of China
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Abstract

The thermoelectric properties of Nb-doped Zn4Sb3 compounds, (Zn1–xNbx)4Sb3 (x = 0, 0.005, and 0.01), were investigated at temperatures ranging from 300 to 685 K. The results showed that by substituting Zn with Nb, the thermal conductivities of all the Nb-doped compounds were lower than that of the pristine β-Zn4Sb3. Among the compounds studied, the lightly substituted (Zn0.995Nb0.005)4Sb3 compound exhibited the best thermoelectric performance due to the improvement in both its electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity. Its figure of merit, ZT, was greater than the undoped Zn4Sb3 compound for the temperature range investigated. In particular, the ZT of (Zn0.995Nb0.005)4Sb3 reached a value of 1.1 at 680 K, which was 69% greater than that of the undoped Zn4Sb3 obtained in this study.

Keywords

AlloyElectrical propertiesThermoelectric
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , February 2009 , pp. 430 - 435
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2009

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