title: Thermoelectric properties of higher manganese silicide/multi-walled carbon nanotube composites.
abstract: Composites made of Higher Manganese Silicide (HMS)-based compound MnSi1.75Ge0.02 and multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were prepared by an easy and effective method including mechanical milling under mild conditions and reactive spark plasma sintering. SEM compositional mappings show a homogeneous dispersion of MWCNTs in the HMS matrix. Electronic and thermal transport properties were measured from room temperature to 875 K. While power factors are virtually unchanged by the addition of MWCNTs, the lattice thermal conductivity is significantly reduced by about 30%. As a consequence, the maximum figure of merit for the composites with 1 wt% MWCNTs is improved by about 20% compared to the MWCNT free HMS-based sample.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire CRISMAT UMR 6508 CNRS ENSICAEN, 6 boulevard du Maréchal Juin, 14050 Caen Cedex 04, France.
authors.forename: D Y Nhi
authors.initials: DY
authors.lastname: Truong
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kleinke
authors.forename: Franck
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Gascoin