Ion beam irradiation effect on thermoelectric properties of Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 thin films

NUCLEAR INSTRUMENTS & METHODS IN PHYSICS RESEARCH SECTION B-BEAM INTERACTIONS WITH MATERIALS AND ATOMS

卷:358

Article

Fu, Gaosheng¹  Zuo, Lei^1,2  Lian, Jie³  Wang, Yongqiang⁴  Chen, Jie²  Jon Longtin¹  Xiao, Zhigang⁵ 

[1] SUNY Stony Brook, Dept Mech Engn, Stony Brook, NY 11794 USA

[2] Virginia Tech, Dept Mech Engn, Blacksburg, VA 24061 USA

[3] Rensselaer Polytech Inst, Dept Mech Aerosp & Nucl Engn, Troy, NY 12180 USA

[4] Los Alamos Natl Lab, Mat Sci & Technol Div, Los Alamos, NM 87544 USA

[5] Alabama A&M Univ, Dept Elect Engn, Normal, AL 35752 USA

关键词: Thermoelectric;    Ion beam radiation;    Bismuth telluride;    Antimony telluride;    Thin film;   

DOI  :  10.1016/j.nimb.2015.06.039

来源: Elsevier

【 摘 要 】

Thermoelectric energy harvesting is a very promising application in nuclear power plants for self-maintained wireless sensors. However, the effects of intensive radiation on the performance of thermoelectric materials under relevant reactor environments such as energetic neutrons are not fully understood. In this work, radiation effects of bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) and antimony telluride (Sb2Te3) thermoelectric thin film samples prepared by E-beam evaporation are investigated using Ne2+ ion irradiations at different fluences of 5 x 10(14), 10(15), 5 x 10(15) and 10(16) ions/cm(2) with the focus on the transport and structural properties. Electrical conductivities, Seebeck coefficients and power factors are characterized as ion fluence changes. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) of the samples are obtained to assess how phase and microstructure influence the transport properties. Carrier concentration and Hall mobility are obtained from Hall effect measurements, which provide further insight into the electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient mechanisms. Positive effects of ion irradiations from Ne2+ on thermoelectric material property are observed to increase the power factor to 208% for Bi2Te3 and 337% for Sb2Te3 materials between fluence of 1 and 5 x 10(15) cm(2), due to the increasing of the electrical conductivity as a result of ionization radiation-enhanced crystallinity. However, under a higher fluence, 5 x 1015 cm2 in this case, the power factor starts to decrease accordingly, limiting the enhancements of thermoelectric materials properties under intensive radiation environment. (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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