Secondary phase induced electrical conductivity and improvement in thermoelectric power factor of zinc antimonide films

Abstract

The urgent global need to develop sustainable energy conversion methods and to minimize green-house gas emissions has intensified interest in finding more efficient and non-polluting means for power generation. Thermoelectric materials directly convert heat into electricity which can be used for power generation and waste heat recovery. The waste heat is mostly in the intermediate temperature range and current materials are economically unviable for the recovery of heat loss. Zinc antimonide, β-Zn4Sb3, has one of the highest figures of merit (ZT) owing to its phonon-glass-electron-crystal (PGEC) structure with potential application in the intermediate temperatures (500 K–900 K). It shows poo..