Effect of Milling Time Parameter on the Microstructure and the Thermoelectric Properties of n-Type BI2TE2.7SE0.3 Alloys

Abstract

Nanostructured thermoelectric materials receiving great attention for its high thermoelectric performance. In this research, nanostructured n-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 alloys have prepared using high energy ball milling and followed by spark plasma sintering. Also, we have varied ball milling time to investigate milling time parameter on the thermoelectric properties of n-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 powder. The powders were discrete at 10 min milling and later particles tend to agglomerate at higher milling time due to cold welding. The bulk fracture surface display multi-scale grains where small grains intersperse in between large grains. The maximum Seebeck coefficient value was obtained at 20-min milling time due to their lower carrier density. The κ values were decreased with increasing milling time due to the decreasing trend observed in their κL values. The highest ZT of 0.7 at 350 K was observed for 30-min milling time which was ascribed to its lower thermal conductivity. The Vickers hardness values also greatly improved due to their fine microstructure.

Keywords

• ball milling
• milling time
• microstructure
• thermoelectric properties
• zt