Date of Award
12-2009
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science (MS)
Legacy Department
Materials Science and Engineering
Committee Chair/Advisor
Drymiotis, Fivos R.
Committee Member
Tritt , Terry M.
Committee Member
Brown , Philip J.
Committee Member
Luo , Jian
Committee Member
Zdyrko , Bogdan
Abstract
Sustainable energy research is currently on the forefront of scientific exploration and energy conservation and the development of new energy production techniques are both crucial for our long lasting stable future. Accordingly, thermoelectric materials will be a significant energy conservation and production source. The state-of -the-art thermoelectric materials can be used to collect the wasted heat and converted to power, which is the future for the green power generation.
PbTe is considered a state-of-the-art thermoelectric material, which has been extensively studied. It forms in the NaCl structure and it is a semiconductor with a room temperature gap value of 0.29 eV. Ag and Se was chosen to dope into the PbTe system to form (PbTe)(AgxSe). The hope was that the presence of nano-scale inhomogeneities would lead to a significant reduction in the thermal conductivity and a significant improvement of the thermoelectric Figure-of-merit with respect to the stoichiometric PbTe. With the result of PbTe (AgxSe), the similar system CuxAg3-xSbSeTe2 alloy were doped to further reduce the thermal conductivity and improve the Figure-of-merit ZT.
Recommended Citation
Wang, Yisha, "INVESTIGATION OF THE THERMOELECTRIC BEHAVIOR AND STRUCTURE FORMATION OF (PbTe/AgSbTe2)-SILVER CHALCOGENIDE MIXTURES" (2009). All Theses. 718.
https://tigerprints.clemson.edu/all_theses/718