Development of Bismuth Telluride Nanostructure Pellet for Thermoelectric Applications
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Date
2018
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Abstract
The bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) nanostructure powders and pellet was successfully developedfor thermoelectric applications by using a simple chemical process. Several characterizationtools such as X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM),energy dispersive X-ray (EDX), atomic force microscopy (AFM) and Fourier transforminfrared (FT-IR) spectrometry were carried out. The XRD, SEM, EDX, and FTIR analysesshowed that the chemical structure of pellet is Bi2Te3. The average crystalline size ofthe Bi2Te3 pellet is found to be 3.93 nm, as determined by the SEM. The AFM studiesconfirmed that the pellet is of nanostructure form and average surface roughness valueis 68.06 nm. This is within the roughness range which can lead to an enhancement inthermoelectric properties of Bi2Te3 nanostructure. This could be evidenced by thermalconductivity which should be higher than the electrical conductivity.