Preparation and thermoelectric properties of AgPbmSbTe2+m alloys

Hydrothermally synthesized AgPbmSbTe2+m (m = 10–18) nanopowders were pressure-less sintered at 450–480 °C for 5 h in Ar. The samples show large positive Seebeck coefficient but low electrical conductivity and the AgPb18SbTe20 sample shows higher power factors. The hot pressed AgPb10SbTe12 sample was highly densified with grain size down to nanoscale, and the sample has inhomogeneous Seebeck coefficient. Obviously different thermoelectric properties have been observed for the AgPb18SbTe20 samples compacted with pressure-less sintering and spark plasma sintering.