• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.136-141
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• 2010

Bismuth-telluride based $(Bi_{0.2}Sb_{0.8})_2Te_3$ thermoelectric powders were fabricated by two-step planetary milling process which produces bimodal size distribution ranging $400\;nm\;{\sim}\;2\;{\mu}m$. The powders were reduced in hydrogen atmosphere to minimize oxygen contents which cause degradation of thermoelectric performance by decreasing electrical conductivity. Oxygen contents were decreased from 0.48% to 0.25% by the reduction process. In this study, both the as-synthesized and the reduced powders were consolidated by the spark plasma sintering process at $350^{\circ}C$ for 10 min at the heating rate of $100^{\circ}C/min$ and then their thermoelectric properties were investigated. The sintered samples using the reduced p-type thermoelectric powders show 15% lower specific electrical resistivity ($0.8\;m{\Omega}{\cdot}cm$) than those of the as-synthesized powders while Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity do not change a lot. The results confirmed that ZT value of thermoelectric performance at room temperature was improved by 15% due to high electric conductivity caused by the controlled oxygen contents present at bismuth telluride materials.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.30 no.4
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• pp.318-323
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• 2023

The thermoelectric effect, which converts waste heat into electricity, holds promise as a renewable energy technology. Recently, bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3)-based alloys are being recognized as important materials for practical applications in the temperature range from room temperature to 500 K. However, conventional sintering processes impose limitations on shape-changeable and tailorable Bi₂Te₃ materials. To overcome these issues, three-dimensional (3D) printing (additive manufacturing) is being adopted. Although some research results have been reported, relatively few studies on 3D printed thermoelectric materials are being carried out. In this study, we utilize extrusion 3D printing to manufacture n-type Bi_1.7Sb_0.3Te₃ (N-BST). The ink is produced without using organic binders, which could negatively influence its thermoelectric properties. Furthermore, we introduce graphene oxide (GO) at the crystal interface to enhance the electrical properties. The formed N-BST composites exhibit significantly improved electrical conductivity and a higher Seebeck coefficient as the GO content increases. Therefore, we propose that the combination of the extrusion 3D printing process (Direct Ink Writing, DIW) and the incorporation of GO into N-BST offers a convenient and effective approach for achieving higher thermoelectric efficiency.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.20 no.5
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• pp.345-349
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• 2013

Carbon nanotube-dispersed bismuth telluride matrix (CNT/$Bi_2Te_3$) nanopowders were synthesized by chemical routes followed by a ball-milling process. The microstructures of the synthesized CNT/$Bi_2Te_3$ nanopowders showed the characteristic microstructure of CNTs dispersed among disc-shaped $Bi_2Te_3$ nanopowders with as an average size of 500 nm in-plane and a few tens of nm in thickness. The prepared nanopowders were sintered into composites with a homogeneous dispersion of CNTs in a $Bi_2Te_3$ matrix. The dimensionless figure-of-merit of the composite showed an enhanced value compared to that of pure $Bi_2Te_3$ at the room temperature due to the reduced thermal conductivity and increased electrical conductivity with the addition of CNTs.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.107-112
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• 2010

Carbon-nanotube-embedded bismuth telluride (CNT/$Bi_2Te_3$) matrix composites were fabricated by a powder metallurgy process. Composite powders, whereby 5 vol.% of functionalized CNTs were homogeneously mixed with $Bi_2Te_3$ alloying powders, were successfully synthesized by using high-energy ball milling process. The powders were consolidated into bulk CNT/$Bi_2Te_3$ composites by spark plasma sintering process at $350^{\circ}C$ for 10 min. The fabricated composites showed the uniform mixing and homogeneous dispersion of CNTs in the $Bi_2Te_3$ matrix. Seebeck coefficient of CNT/$Bi_2Te_3$ composites reveals that the composite has n-type semiconducting characteristics with values ranging $-55\;{\mu}V/K$ to $-95\;{\mu}V/K$ with increasing temperature. Furthermore, the significant reduction in thermal conductivity has been clearly observed in the composites. The results showed that CNT addition to thermoelectric materials could be useful method to obtain high thermoelectric performance.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.423-429
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• 2011

Thermoelectric-thick films were fabricated by using a screen printing process of n and p-type bismuth-telluride-based pastes. The screen-printed thick films have approximately 30 ${\mu}m$ in thickness and show rough surfaces yielding an empty gap between an electrode and the thick film. The gap might result in an increase of an electrical resistivity of the fabricated thick-film-type thermoelectric module. In this study, we suggest a conductive metal coating onto the surfaces of the screen-printed paste in order to reduce the contact resistance in the module. As a result, the electrical resistivity of the thermoelectric module having a gold coating layer was significantly reduced up to 30% compared to that of a module without any metal coating. This result indicates that an introduction of conductive metal layers is effective to decrease the contact resistivity of a thick-film-typed thermoelectric module processed by screen printing.

• Journal of Surface Science and Engineering
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• v.50 no.2
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• pp.114-118
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• 2017

Bismuth telluride ($Bi_2Te_3$) and its alloys are well-known thermoelectric materials for ambient temperature applications. In this study, the dissolved Bi-Te precursor solution was used to synthesis metallic $Bi_2Te_3$ powder via ultrasonic spray pyrolysis and reduction process. The droplets of the Bi-Te precursor solution were decomposed to Bi-Te oxide powders by ultrasonic spray pyrolysis. The spherical $Bi_2Te_3$ powders were synthesized by reduction reaction in atmosphere of hydrogen gas at the temperature above $375^{\circ}C$ for 6h. The reduced $Bi_2Te_3$ powders have a mean particle size of $1.5{\mu}m$. The crystal structure of the powder was evaluated by X-Ray diffraction(XRD), and the microstructure with size and shape powders was observed by fieldemission scanning electron microscope(FE-SEM) and transmission electron microscope(TEM).

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.23 no.4
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• pp.263-269
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• 2016

Graphene oxide (GO) powder processed by Hummer's method is mixed with p-type $Bi_2Te_3$ based thermoelectric materials by a high-energy ball milling process. The synthesized GO-dispersed p-type $Bi_2Te_3$ composite powder has a composition of $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_3$ (BSbT), and the powder is consolidated into composites with different contents of GO powder by using the spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. It is found that the addition of GO powder significantly decreases the thermal conductivity of the pure BSbT material through active phonon scattering at the newly formed interfaces. In addition, the electrical properties of the GO/BSbT composites are degraded by the addition of GO powder except in the case of the 0.1 wt% GO/BSbT composite. It is found that defects on the surface of GO powder hinder the electrical transport properties. As a result, the maximum thermoelectric performance (ZT value of 0.91) is achieved from the 0.1% GO/BSbT composite at 398 K. These results indicate that introducing GO powder into thermoelectric materials is a promising method to achieve enhanced thermoelectric performance due to the reduction in thermal conductivity.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.336-341
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• 2010

The present study focused on the synthesis of Bi-Sb-Te-based thermoelectric powder by an oxidereduction process. The phase structure, particle size of the synthesized powders were analyzed using XRD and SEM. The synthesized powder was sintered by the spark plasma sintering method. The thermoelectric property of the sintered body was evaluated by measuring the Seebeck coefficient and specific electric resistivity. The $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_3$ powder had been synthesized by a combination of mechanical milling, calcination and reduction processes using mixture of $Bi_2O_3$, $Sb_2O_3$ and $TeO_2$ powders. The sintered body of the $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_3$ powder synthesized by an oxide-reduction process showed p-type thermoelectric characteristics, even though it had lower thermoelectric properties than the sintered body of the $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_3$ thermoelectric powder synthesized by the conventional melting-crushing method.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.15 no.5
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• pp.352-358
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• 2008

The present study focused on the synthesis of a bismuth-antimony-tellurium-based thermoelectric nanopowders using plasma arc discharge process. The chemical composition, phase structure, particle size of the synthesized powders under various synthesis conditions were analyzed using XRF, XRD and SEM. The powders as synthesized were sintered by the plasma activated sintering. The thermoelectric properties of sintered body were analyzed by measuring Seebeck coefficient, specific electric resistivity and thermal conductivity. The chemical composition of the synthesized Bi-Sb-Te-based powders approached that of the raw material with an increasing DC current of the are plasma. The synthesized Bi-Sb-Te-based powder consist of a mixed phase structure of the $Bi_{0.5}Sb_{1.5}Te_{3}$, $Bi_{2}Te_{3}$ and $Sb_{2}Te_{3}$ phases. This powder has homogeneous mixing state of two different particles in an average particle size; about 100nm and about 500nm. The figure of merit of the sintered body of the synthesized 18.75 wt.%Bi-24.68 wt.%Sb-56.57 wt.%Te nanopowder showed higher value than one of the sintered body of the mechanically milled 12.64 wt.%Bi-29.47 wt.%Sb-57.89 wt.%Te powder.

• Archives of Metallurgy and Materials
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• v.64 no.2
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• pp.591-595
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• 2019

In this study, an oxide reduction process and a reduction-sintering process were employed to synthesize a thermoelectric alloy from three thermoelectric composite oxide powders, and the thermoelectric properties were investigated as a function of the milling duration. Fine grain sizes were analyzed by via X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy, to investigate the influence of the milling duration on the synthesized samples. It was found that microstructural changes, the Seebeck coefficient, and the electrical resistivity of the compounds were highly dependent on the sample milling duration. Additionally, the carrier concentration considerably increased in the samples milled for 6 h; this was attributed to the formation of antisite defects introduced by the accumulated thermal energy. Moreover, the highest value of ZT (=1.05) was achieved at 373K by the 6-h milled samples. The temperature at which the ZT value maximized varied according to the milling duration, which implies that the milling duration of the three thermoelectric composite oxide powders should be carefully optimized for their effective application.