Thermoelectric Performance of Glass Microsphere Dispersed Bi-Sb Composites at Low Temperature

Abstract

In the present study, the glass microsphere dispersed Bi-Sb thermoelectric materials have been fabricated through mechanical alloying followed by pressureless sintering. The phase composition and the microstructure were investigated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis. Electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity were measured in the temperature range of 77~300 K. The ZT values were calculated according to the measurement results. The results showed that the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity decreased by adding glass microsphere into Bi-Sb thermoelectric materials. However, the optimum ZT value of 0.24 was obtained at 260 K, which was increased 10% than that of the Bi-Sb matrix. So it is confirmed that the thermoelectric performance of Bi-Sb-based materials can be improved by adding moderate glass microspheres.