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Open Access Research paper Issue
Atomic-defect-suppressed pristine p-type Bi0.3Sb1.7Te3 as robust high-performance thermoelectrics for power generation and cooling
Journal of Materiomics 2025, 11(6)
Published: 30 May 2025
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High-strength high-performance p-type (Bi,Sb)2Te3 are of pivotal importance for near-room-temperature thermoelectric conversions, the reliable synthesis and fabrication has been viewed of imperative priority. It is known that the energy-favorable formation of anti-site SbTe and vacancy vSb''' acceptor defects from high-temperature syntheses results in additional charge carriers and scattering centers for electrical and phonon transport. However, how p-type (Bi,Sb)2Te3 with minimal lattice defects function remains to be scrutinized. Herein, we present the synergistic enhancements of mechanical robustness and thermoelectric property in crystallographic-defect-suppressed pristine (Bi,Sb)2Te3 through a simple mechanical alloying combined with spark-plasma-sintering (SPS) process. The SbTe and vSb''' acceptor defects were efficiently restrained, contributing to markedly increased charge carrier mobilities. A slightly enlarged band gap of 0.24 eV underpinned enhanced thermoelectric performance for pristine Bi0.3Sb1.7Te3 over a wide temperature range, delivering high zT300 K of 1.16 and zTave of 1.21 over 300–473 K. Interestingly, the confined in-situ grain coarsening during SPS with uniform dispersive nanopores readily endowed an ultra-high compressive strength of 206 MPa, surpassing that of reported (Bi,Sb)2Te3 so far. A 7-pair module (coupled with n-Bi2Te3) was fabricated, demonstrating a competitive ΔT over 70 K at Thot = 300 K. Furthermore, a power-generation module coupled with n-Mg3SbBi registered a cutting-edge thermoelectric conversion efficiency of 9.5% at a temperature gradient of 250 K. The strategy eliminates the need of complex processing nor extrinsic doping for pristine (Bi,Sb)2Te3, demonstrating great potentials in thermoelectric power generation and cooling applications.

Open Access Perspective Issue
Mg3(Bi, Sb)2-based thermoelectric modules towards near-room temperature cooling and power generation
Journal of Materiomics 2022, 8(6): 1218-1221
Published: 24 May 2022
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