Hydrothermal synthesized nanostructure Bi-Sb-Te thermoelectric materials

Nanostructure p-type Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 was successfully prepared by adopting a feasible hydrothermal synthesis method. The crystallinity, particle size, morphology and chemical composition were characterized by XRD, FE-SEM, EDS respectively. Thermoelectric properties were also measured and a maximum ZT value up to 1.26 has been obtained at 398 K in prepared nanostructure sample. The achieved higher ZT value is attributed to the unique nanostructures which increase phonon scattering in the nanostructured materials to effectively reduce thermal conductivity. It is suggested that the as-prepared nanostructure Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 has high potential for thermoelectric energy conversion application.