Preparation and thermoelectric properties of AgPb18−xSnxSbTe20 (x = 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6) materials

AgPb18−xSnxSbTe20 (x = 0.5, 1, 2, 4, 6) bulk samples were prepared by hydrothermal synthesis followed by melting. All the samples are in NaCl-type structure and their lattice constant decreases with increase of x value. The thermoelectric properties of the as-prepared samples were investigated in the temperature range of ∼300–773 K. The electrical conductivity of the samples initially decreases and then increases with the increase of Sn content (x). The AgPb18−xSnxSbTe20 (x = 0.5, 1, 2) samples show n-type conduction in the whole temperature range measured, while the AgPb18−xSnxSbTe20 (x = 4, 6) samples change from p- to n-type conduction at ∼520 and 650 K, respectively. For the AgPb17SnSbTe20 sample, a maximum ZT value of 0.72 was achieved at 623 K.

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