화학공학소재연구정보센터
Materials Science Forum, Vol.423-4, 381-384, 2003
Improvement of thermoelectric properties for n-type PbTe by adding Ge
Thermoelectric materials can directly convert thermal energy into electrical power. The then-noelectric property of every thermoelectric material has temperature dependence and a high performance appears at a specific temperature. If the proper materials with different carrier concentrations and/or compositions are placed and joined along the temperature gradient, the performance should be higher than a monolithic material. Pb-Te is generally used for thermoelectric power generation at the medium temperature range between 500 and 800 K. The performance of PbTe with different carrier concentration, however, is not high enough at the high temperature range. Then, it is also insufficient as a component for an FGM, as it is necessary for every part of an FGM to show high performance. In order to improve the thermoelectric properties, we investigated the effects of Ge on thermoelectric properties for PbTe added with GeTe as a component of an FGM. The melt grown materials of PbTe added with GeTe were prepared by vertical Bridgman method. The GeTe content range was from 0 to 15 mol%. Crystal structure of each part of the ingot was identified by means of XRD. The microstructure of each ingot was observed by scanning electron microscopy. The temperature dependence of electrical resistivity, Hall coefficient, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity were measured over the temperature range from 300 to 700 K. From the results of XRD, the ingots with above 10 mol%GeTe consisted of two phases of PbTe and GeTe. Dimensionless figure of merit, ZT, was calculated from results of thermoelectric properties. The PbTe with 10 mol%GeTe showed a largest ZT of 1.19 at 500K, which is rather promising for a component of an FGM.