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Artificially nanostructured n-type SiGe bulk thermoelectrics through plasma enhanced growth of alloy nanoparticles from the gas phase

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2011

N. Stein ,
N. Petermann ,
R. Theissmann ,
G. Schierning ,
R. Schmechel  and
H. Wiggers
N. Stein*
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering and Center for NanoIntegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
N. Petermann
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering and Center for NanoIntegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
R. Theissmann
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering and Center for NanoIntegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
G. Schierning
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering and Center for NanoIntegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
R. Schmechel
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering and Center for NanoIntegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
H. Wiggers
Affiliation:
Faculty of Engineering and Center for NanoIntegration Duisburg-Essen (CeNIDE), University of Duisburg-Essen, 47057 Duisburg, Germany
*
a)Address all correspondence to this author. e-mail: niklas.stein@uni-due.de
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Abstract

SiGe alloys belong to the class of classic high temperature thermoelectric materials. By the means of nanostructuring, the performance of this well-known material can be further enhanced. Additional grain boundaries and point defects added to the alloy structure result in a strong decrease in thermal conductivity because of reduced lattice contribution to the overall thermal conductivity. Hence, the figure of merit can be increased. To obtain a nanostructured bulk material, a nanosized raw material is essential. In this work, a new approach toward nanostructured SiGe alloys is presented where alloyed nanoparticles are synthesized from a homogeneous mixture of the respective precursors in a microwave plasma reactor. As-prepared nanoparticles are compacted to a dense bulk material by a field assisted sintering technique. A figure of merit of zT = 0.5 ± 0.09 at 450 °C and a peak zT of 0.8 ± 0.15 at 1000 °C could be achieved for a nanostructured, 0.8% phosphorus-doped Si80Ge20 alloy without any further optimization.

Keywords

ThermoelectricNanostructureSintering
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Materials Research , Volume 26 , Issue 15: Focus Issue: Advances in Thermoelectric Materials , 14 August 2011 , pp. 1872 - 1878
Copyright
Copyright © Materials Research Society 2011

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