High Pressure Sintering of Nano-polycrystalline Thermoelectric Materials

Abstract

In this article we describe the possibility of the improvement of thermoelectric properties of polycrystalline materials through means of high pressure sintering. We made an attempt to reduce the thermal conductivity, which is one of the important parameter of thermoelectric properties, by the high pressure sintering of nano-crystalline particles. It was confirmed that the thermal conductivity of ZnO, CoSb₃, and Bi₂Te₃ are actually reduced by using this method and the dimensionless figure of merits of these materials efficiency at room temperature are improved remarkably.