Tetrahedrite is a naturally occurring mineral, possessing a high figure of merit (ZT), used to evaluate the efficiency of thermoelectric (TE) materials. Phase stability and thermoelectric properties of single phase nanocrystalline Zn-doped tetrahedrite was studied. Thermal conductivity was directly measured using a transient plane source technique. It was observed that Zn, and other transition metals, reduced the thermal conductivity significantly due to increased phonon scattering....
This article studies the effect of dispersion of Cu2O nanoparticles on the thermoelectric properties of Ba0.4Co4Sb12 and Sn0.4Ba0.4Co4Sb12 skutterudites. It was found that the dispersion of these nanoparticles resulted in an increased thermoelectric efficiency due to decreased electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity. The figure of merit for Cu2O dispersed Ba0.4Co4Sb12 reached a maximum value of 0.92 at 573 K. This value represents a ...
