title: Effect of aluminum on the thermoelectric properties of nanostructured PbTe.
abstract: In the present work, the effect of aluminum (Al) on the thermoelectric properties of PbTe is studied. Aluminum doped PbTe samples, fabricated by a ball milling and hot pressing, have Seebeck coefficients between -100 and -200 μV K-1 and electrical conductivities of (3.6-18) × 104 S m-1 at room temperature, which means that Al is an effective donor in PbTe. The first principle calculations clearly show an increase of the density of states close to the Fermi level in the conduction band due to Al doping, which averages up the energy and effective mass of electrons, resulting in enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient. The maximum figure-of-merit ZT of 1.2 is reached at 770 K in the Al0.03PbTe sample.
authors.affiliation: Center for Advanced Materials and Energy, Xihua University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610039, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: Qinyong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Siqi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Qian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Shuo
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Weishu
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Zhiting
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Tian
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Broido
authors.forename: Gang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Zhifeng
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D000535:Aluminum / Q000737:chemistry*; D004058:Diffusion; D004553:Electric Conductivity; D004560:Electricity; D004583:Electrons; D007854:Lead / Q000737:chemistry*; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013691:Tellurium / Q000737:chemistry*; D013696:Temperature; D014961:X-Ray Diffraction
chemical_list: D007854:Lead; D000535:Aluminum; D013691:Tellurium