title: Effect of Zn doping on improving crystal quality and thermoelectric properties of borosilicides.
abstract: Transition-metal (Mo, Mn, Fe, Rh, Ti, Cu, Zn) doping was carried out on the borosilicide compound REB(44)Si(2) (RE = rare earth). REB(44)Si(2) compounds exhibit Seebeck coefficients greater than 200 microV K(-1) at high temperatures and unlike most compounds, the figure of merit shows a steep increase at T > 1000 K making them promising high-temperature thermoelectric materials. Although zinc itself does not remain in the final product, zinc doping was found to improve the crystal quality, which has been a long-standing problem for the borosilicides. As a result, a significant increase of the thermoelectric power factor by more than 30% was achieved.
authors.affiliation: National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Materials Nanoarchitechtonics Center (MANA), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba, 305-0044, Japan. MORI.Takao@nims.go.jp
authors.forename: Takao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Berthebaud
authors.forename: Toshiyuki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Nishimura
authors.forename: Akiko
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nomura
authors.forename: Toetsu
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Shishido
authors.forename: Kazuo
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Nakajima