Effects of Se doping on thermoelectric properties of Zn4Sb3 at low-temperatures

The thermoelectric properties of Se-doped compounds Zn4(Sb1−xSex)3 (x = 0, 0.005, 0.01, 0.015) have been studied. The results indicate that low-temperature (T < 300 K) thermal conductivity of moderately doped Zn4(Sb0.99Se0.01)3 reduce remarkably as compared with that of Zn4Sb3 due to enhanced impurity (dopant) scattering of phonons. Electrical resistivity and Seebeck coefficient are found to increase and then decrease moderately with the increase in the Se content. Moreover, the lightly doped compound Zn4(Sb0.99Se0.01)3 exhibits the best thermoelectric performance due to the improvement in both its thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. Its figure of merit, ZT, is about 1.3 times larger than that of pure Zn4Sb3 at 300 K.

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