Thermoelectric and Thermophysical Characteristics of Cu₂Te-Tl₂Te Pseudo Binary System

抄録

We studied the thermoelectric and thermophysical properties of Cu₂Te-Tl₂Te pseudo binary system. Polycrystalline samples of CuTl₉Te₅, Cu₂Te and Tl₂Te were prepared and characterized. All samples indicated positive values of the Seebeck coefficient and very low values of the thermal conductivity. The values of the thermal conductivity of CuTl₉Te₅ and Tl₂Te at room temperature were 0.49 and 0.35 Wm⁻¹ K⁻¹, respectively. These very low thermal conductivity values could be associated with the material’s thermophysical properties such as the average sound velocity. CuTl₉Te₅ was found to show relatively high thermoelectric figure of merit ZT; the maximum ZT value was 0.38 obtained at 592 K.