Solvothermal synthesis of PbTe/PtTe2 multiphase nanocrystals

• Main Author: Yeo, Zong Ming.
• Other Authors: School of Materials Science and Engineering
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Materials::Nanostructured materials
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/36183
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

PbTe has been intensively studied because it has interesting physical properties which can be applied in many fields such as IR detection, photoconductivity and thermoelectric materials. PbTe have shown to be having great potential in thermoelectric applications. In a bid to increase the dimensionless figure of merit, ZT, nanoparticles with multiphases are introduced. Multiphased nanoparticles are expected to increase ZT by maintaining a high power factor. PbTe/PtTe2 multiphase nanoparticles are obtained via solvothermal synthesis and went through materials characterization using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM), X-Ray Diffractometry (XRD) and ZEM. The thermoelectric properties of the nanocrystals were compared to pure PbTe and were found to have higher electrical conductivity as well as higher power factor than PbTe, proving that the addition of PtTe2 can improve the ZT value of pure PbTe for commercial usage. Some of the factors that influenced the morphology and the structure of the nanoparticles are mentioned.