Advancement of thermoelectric performances through the dispersion of expanded graphene on p-type BiSbTe alloys

Abstract

ABSTRACT We demonstrated the systematic investigation of the graphene addition on the microstructural behaviour and concurrent thermoelectric properties of water-atomized p-type BiSbTe (BST)- based alloy using mechanical ball milling, and followed through the spark plasma sintering to fabricate a bulk compact specimen. X-ray diffraction results confirm the single phase of BST. The fracture surface of both specimen exhibits the homogenous distribution of grains with irregular shapes in a random alignment. The graphene in the BST provides an extra carrier transport leading to an increment in the carrier concentration (n) resulting in higher electrical conductivity (σ) for the BST + Graphene composite. The interface between two-dimensional (2D) graphene and bulk BST provides a larger degree of phonon scattering leading to a maximum reduced thermal conductivity (к) of 0.8 W m−1K−1 compared to pristine- BST (0.9 W m−1K−1) results in a maximum figure of merit (ZT) 1.1 at 400 K.