Electrical activity of metal vacancies in Pb/sub 1-x/Sn/sub x/Te>Te< solid solutions and thermoelectric properties of compositions for p-type leg of middle-temperature range thermogenerator

Autor: E. A. Gurieva, L. V. Prokof’eva, Yu. I. Ravich, M.V. Vedernikov, M. I. Fedorov
Rok vydání: 2002
Předmět:
Zdroj: Proceedings ICT2001. 20 International Conference on Thermoelectrics (Cat. No.01TH8589).
DOI: 10.1109/ict.2001.979842
Popis: The maximum densities of holes generated by cation vacancies, as well as thermoelectric parameters of (Pb/sub 1-x/Sn/sub x/)/sub 1-y/Te/sub y/ solid solutions with tin content x in the range from 0.4 to 0.6, were studied. It is shown that each vacancy produces four holes in the valence band and that only for small x can the concept of a doubly charged vacancy be used. The maximum figure of merit Z is (1.0-1.1) /spl times/ 10/sup -3/ K/sup -1/ at T = 800-850 K. The relatively high value of Z achieved without doping is due to the high electrical conductivity provided, first, by the small effective mass of holes and, second, by the high electrical activity of the vacancies.
Databáze: OpenAIRE