Open AccessEffects of excessive Zn on the thermoelectric properties of β-Zn4Sb3
Author(s) -
Qiong Qi,
Xinfeng Tang,
Cong Xiong,
Wenyu Zhao,
Qingjie Zhang
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
wuli xuebao
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.199
H-Index - 47
ISSN - 1000-3290
DOI - 10.7498/aps.55.5539
Subject(s) - thermoelectric effect , ampoule , seebeck coefficient , materials science , analytical chemistry (journal) , quartz , thermoelectric materials , zinc , melting temperature , electrical resistivity and conductivity , metallurgy , thermal conductivity , chemistry , thermodynamics , environmental chemistry , composite material , physics , electrical engineering , engineering
Single-phase β-Zn4Sb3 bulk sample and several samples based on β-Zn4Sb3 with different amounts of Zn were produced by melting in an evacuated quartz ampoule followed by slow cooling and their thermoelectric properties were investigated at 300 to 700K. The distribution of Zn in the samples was observed and the effects of excess of Zn on thermoelectric properties of β-Zn4Sb3 compound were investigated systematically. With the amount of Zn increasing, electrical and thermal conductivities of the sample increase, and the Seebeck coefficient declines. The excess of Zn leads to an obvious improvement to the power factor of the β-Zn4Sb3 based materials. The ZTmax of the sample is 1.10 at 700K when the amount of excessive Zn is 2at%.