Effect of sintering temperature on the thermoelectric properties of bismuth antimony telluride prepared by spark plasma sintering

Abstract

Bismuth antimony telluride (BiSbTe) thermoelectric materials were successfully prepared by a spark plasma sintering process. Crystalline BiSbTe ingots were crushed into small pieces and then attrition milled into fine powders of about 300 nm ~ 2 μm size under argon gas. Spark plasma sintering was applied on the BiSbTe powders at 240, 320, and 380°C, respectively, under a pressure of 40 MPa in vacuum. The heating rate was 50°C/min and the holding time at the sintering temperature was 10 min. At all sintering temperatures, high density bulk BiSbTe was successfully obtained. The XRD patterns verify that all samples were well matched with the Bi 0.5Sb 1.5Te3 3. Seebeck coefficient (S), electric conductivity (σ) and thermal conductivity (k) were evaluated in a temperature range of 25~300°C. The thermoelectric properties of BiSbTe were evaluated by the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT (ZT = S 2 σT/k). The grain size and electric conductivity of sintered BiSbTe increased as the sintering temperature increased but the thermal conductivity was similar at all sintering temperatures. Grain growth reduced the carrier concentration, because grain growth reduced the grain boundaries, which serve as acceptors. Meanwhile, the carrier mobility was greatly increased and the electric conductivity was also improved. Consequentially, the grains grew with increasing sintering temperature and the figure of merit was improved.