Thermoelectric properties of pressed pellets and pressureless sintering in the K2Bi8Se13-xSx system

Abstract

The solid solutions of ß-K2Bi8Se13 are an interesting series of materials for thermoelectric investigations because they possess very low thermal conductivity and relatively high power factor. Moreover, the sulfur-substituted K2Bi8Se 13-xSx compounds were found to have promising properties showing the potential for high temperature applications. Due to their high anisotropic properties, we aim to develop polycrystalline pellets and study their thermoelectric properties as well as their potential to achieve promising power factor. In this work, for the first time pressed pellet samples of the K2Bi8Se13 system are presented. The morphology of the material and the thermoelectric properties of pressed pellets of the K2Bi8Se13-xSx compounds were studied in terms of sintering conditions. © 2006 IEEE.