Abstract
In this study efforts have been made to optimize the electronic properties such as the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of Ag1- y Pb18Sb1+ z Te20 (lead-antimony-silver-tellurium, LAST-18) compounds by systematically varying the Ag and Sb compositions with constant Pb/Te ratio. It was found that increasing the content of Sb relative to Ag raised the charge carrier density (n) and thereby the electrical conductivity and power factor. The results indicate that, for deficient Ag, the excess trivalent Sb atoms occupy divalent Pb sites in the unit cell, increasing the value of n in the system. It was established that the Seebeck coefficient decreases with increasing n, indicating a dominant acoustic phonon scattering mechanism in the current alloys. The results demonstrate that the interaction between Ag and Sb atoms plays a major role in determining the electronic properties in the current Ag1-y Pb18Sb1+z Te20 compounds.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2065-2072 |
Number of pages | 8 |
Journal | Journal of Electronic Materials |
Volume | 41 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Aug 2012 |
Externally published | Yes |
Funding
The authors thank the Federal Ministry for Education and Research of Germany (BMBF) for funding this research study (03 9 3540) in the Programme ‘‘Werkstofftechnologien von morgen— Wissenschaftliche Vorprojekte in Werkstoff-und Nanotechnologien’’ and the Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungzentren for funding of the Young Investigator Group ‘‘Lattice dynamics in emerging functional materials’’ supervised by Dr. Raphaël Hermann.
Funders | Funder number |
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Helmholtz-Gemeinschaft Deutscher Forschungzentren | |
Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung | 03 9 3540 |
Bundesministerium für Gesundheit |
Keywords
- Ag-Pb-Sb-Te
- LAST
- Pisarenko relation
- Seebeck coefficient
- charge carrier density
- electrical conductivity