Affiliation:
1. State Key Laboratory of Crystal Materials Institute of Crystal Materials Shandong University Jinan 250100 P. R. China
2. School of Civil Engineering Shandong Jiaotong University Jinan 250023 P. R. China
3. Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Monocrystalline Silicon Semiconductor Materials and Technology Dezhou University Dezhou 253023 P. R. China
4. National Key Laboratory of Chemical and Physical Power Sources Tianjin Institute of Power Sources Tianjin 300384 P. R. China
Abstract
AbstractLa3‐xTe4 is a very promising high‐temperature candidate applied in next‐generation Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs). Conventional synthesis of such materials is based on the mechanochemical method, which makes the sample difficult to purify due to the high‐energy ball milling. In this report, a novel synthetic method is developed, which utilizes Te‐vapor transport and solid‐phase diffusion to efficiently produce the RE3‐xTe4 phases (RE = La, Ce, Pr, Nd). Notably, this method obviates the requirement for high‐energy ball‐milling instruments, conventionally indispensable in the mechanochemical syntheses. For as‐synthesized La2.74Te4 material, a high figure of merit of 1.5 is achieved at 1073 K, owning to the reduced electronic thermal conductivity with metal impurities well eliminated.
Funder
National Key Laboratory Foundation of China