p-Type pseudo-binary
alloys (Al
2Te3)
x–(Bi
0.5Sb
1.5Te
3)
1−x (
x = 0
![not, vert, similar not, vert, similar](http://www.sciencedirect.com/scidirimg/entities/223c.gif)
0.2) were prepared by spark plasma sin
tering (SPS)
technique and their thermoelectric properties were evalua
ted. Measurements show that the Seebeck coefficient decreases and electrical conductivity increases with Al
2Te
3 con
tent increasing due to a possible increment of free carrier (holes) concentration and establishment of special conducting mechanism upon adding Al
2Te
3. Thermal conductivity (
κ) increases with
temperature but reduces noticeably over the broad
temperature range, such a reduction is directly attribu
ted to the enhancement of phonon scat
tering resul
ted from both the precipitation of the second phase AlSb and nearly 12%atomic occupation of element Al in Te1 and Te2 si
tes in the crystal. The maximum ZT value of 0.86 can be obtained for
x = 0.1 at 419 K, which is 0.28 higher than that of Bi
0.5Sb
1.5Te
3 under the same fabrication
technology.