Thermoelectric properties and microstructures of AgSbTe 2 ‐added p‐type Pb 0.16 Ge 0.84 Te

The alloys in the AgSbTe 2 GeTe system and the AgSbTe 2 PbTe system are known as excellent thermoelectric (TE) materials, i.e. TAGS and LAST, respectively. Although the TE properties of the AgSbTe 2 (Pb,Ge)Te system have not been reported. Here, we show the high‐temperature TE properties of the alloys in the AgSbTe 2 (Pb,Ge)Te system. The samples of (Ag 0.5 Sb 0.5 Te) 100− x (Pb 0.16 Ge 0.84 Te) x ( x  = 75, 80, 85, and 90) were prepared and the electrical resistivity ( ρ ), Seebeck coefficient ( S ), and thermal conductivity ( κ ) were examined in the temperature range from room temperature to 720 K. The samples prepared by hot‐press were composed of two phases: the GeTe‐based matrix phase and the PbTe‐based precipitate. These samples exhibited the moderate ρ and S as well as relatively low κ , leading to high thermoelectric figure of merit ZT (= S 2 T / ρκ , where T is the absolute temperature). The maximum ZT value was 0.84 at 720 K obtained in the sample of x  = 80.