Applied Surface Science, Vol.415, 109-113, 2017
The influence of interfacial defect-region on the thermoelectric properties of nanodiamond-dispersed Bi2Te2.Se-7(0.3) matrix composites
Nanodiamond-dispersed Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 (ND/BTSe) matrix composites were fabricated by a high energy ball milling followed by spark plasma sintering process. The fabricated ND/BTSe composites show that ND powders with 5 nm in size are dispersed in the BTSe matrix grain rather than agglomerated at the grain boundary. It was found that atomically disordered-lattice structure present nearby the newly formed ND/BTSe interfaces. This interfacial region artificially formed by addition of ND powders plays a role as atomic-scaled defects increasing electron concentration. Electric conductivities of all the ND/BTSe composites show significantly increased values compared to that of pure BTSe in the temperature range from 298 K to 473 K. However, total thermal conductivity of the composites exhibit higher values than the BTSe due to superior electric conductivity even though active lattice phonon scattering at the interfaces affect lowering thermal conductivity. The maximum ZT, 0.97 was obtained from 0.5vol% ND/BTSe composite at 473 K and enhancement in ZT values was clearly revealed above 348 K. Therefore, these results elucidate that addition of ND powders into n-type BTSe matrix is promising method to improve thermoelectric performances. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.