Doping of Sb2Si2Te6 for enhanced thermoelectric energy conversion

• Main Author: Lim, Matthew Jun Wei
• Other Authors: Alex Yan Qingyu
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Nanyang Technological University 2022
• Subjects: Engineering::Materials
• Online Access: https://hdl.handle.net/10356/157167
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

The conversion of thermoelectric energy in recent decades has received much attention from researchers due to its ability to convert waste heat directly into electricity without contributing to environmental or noise pollution. Hence, many thermoelectric materials have been explored recently. With renewable energy sources being a vital resource in this modern era where energy consumption is steadily rising, a potential source of renewable energy that has been attracting attention is thermoelectric generators. This project encompasses the synthesis of Sb2Si2Te6 and Sb2-xMxSi2Te6 doped with various suitable elements to identify the most compatible type of dopant in achieving the best thermoelectric performance. The samples were synthesized through high-energy ball milling, thermal annealing, and spark plasma sintering (SPS). Composition characterization was performed using the powder X-ray Diffraction (XRD) machine. The ULVAC ZEM-3 machine, and Laser Flash Apparatus (LFA) were used to quantify the thermoelectric properties of the samples. For the sample analysis, thermoelectric properties measurements were taken and analyzed.