Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill, MA 02467, USA.
Nanotechnology. 2012 Dec 21;23(50):505402. doi: 10.1088/0957-4484/23/50/505402. Epub 2012 Nov 29.
We present the figure-of-merit (ZT) improvement in nanostructured FeSb(2-x)Ag(x) with Ag(1-y)Sb(y) nanoinclusions through a metal/semiconductor interface engineering approach. Owing to the interfaces between FeSb(2-x)Ag(x) and Ag(1-y)Sb(y) phases, as well as the identical work functions, both thermal conductivity and electrical resistivity of the nanocomposites were significantly reduced in the lower temperature regime compared with pure FeSb(2). Overall, an improvement of 70% in ZT was achieved for the optimized nanocomposite FeSb(1.975)Ag(0.025)/Ag(0.77)Sb(0.23) sample, in which Ag(0.77)Sb(0.23) is about 10% by molar ratio. The results of this approach clearly demonstrated the metal/semiconductor interface concept and confirmed the potential of strongly correlated material systems as promising thermoelectric materials.
我们通过金属/半导体界面工程方法，展示了具有 Ag(1-y)Sb(y)纳米夹杂物的纳米结构 FeSb(2-x)Ag(x)的品质因数 (ZT) 提高。由于 FeSb(2-x)Ag(x) 和 Ag(1-y)Sb(y) 相之间的界面以及相同的功函数，与纯 FeSb(2)相比，纳米复合材料的热导率和电阻率在较低温度范围内都显著降低。总的来说，对于优化的纳米复合材料 FeSb(1.975)Ag(0.025)/Ag(0.77)Sb(0.23)，其 ZT 值提高了 70%，其中 Ag(0.77)Sb(0.23)的摩尔比约为 10%。该方法的结果清楚地证明了金属/半导体界面的概念，并证实了强关联材料体系作为有前途的热电材料的潜力。
