Thermoelectric Properties of AgSbTe2-Sb2Te3 Prepared by High Pressure Synthesis

The p-type thermoelectric materials of AgSbTe2 alloyed with Sb2Te3 ((AgSbTe2)1-x(Sb2Te3)x, 0x0.3) are prepared by high pressure method. The structure and thermoelectric properties of (AgSbTe2)1-x(Sb2Te3)x are studied at room temperature. Experimental results indicate that the samples are near single phase AgSbTe2 when x0.1. The electrical resistivity of the sample decreases dramatically with the increasing of synthetic pressure and Sb2Te3 content x. The Seebeck coefficient increases. The high pressure combining with Sb2Te3 doping can improve the power factor of AgSbTe2 effectively. Moreover, the enhanced power factor reaches 10.4 W/(cmK2), and the high figure of merit reaches 0.466 for (AgSbTe2)0.9(Sb2Te3)0.1 prepared at 2.0 GPa, which is close to that of Bi2Te3.