Microstructure and properties of n-type Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric material fabricated by selective laser sintering

Abstract

An n-type Bi _2 Te _3 -based thermoelectric material Bi _2 Te _2.85 Se _0.15 was prepared through an SLS (Selective Laser Sintering) process with E12/Bi _2 Te _2.85 Se _0.15 as composite powder (weight ratio 1:7), from which E12 was degreased after the SLS process. It was studied the effect of laser power, scanning speed and scanning interval on the density and thermoelectric properties of the sintered samples. The laser power was found the most important influential factor, while the scanning interval was the second and the scanning speed the least. The maximum dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT is about 0.88 in the condition when the laser power, scanning interval and scanning speed were 20 W, 0.26 mm and 3000 mm s ^−1 , respectively.

Keywords

• n-type B2Te3-based thermoelectric material
• material preparation
• selective laser sintering
• microstructure
• thermoelectric properties