Effects of annealing on the thermoelectric and microstructural properties of deformed n-type Bi2Te3-based compounds

We studied the effects of deformation and annealing of n-type 90Bi₂Te₃-5Sb₂Te₃-5Sb₂Se₃ thermoelectric compound. Hot-extrusion was conducted to prepare the deformed compound and then this compound was annealed at 400°C for 1–24 hr. When the undoped cast-ingot was extruded, the compound was changed from p-type to n-type due to the electrons generated during the extrusion process. For the compound extruded with SbI₃-doped powders, the thermoelectric properties were also varied for the extrusion process. After annealing at 400°C more than 9 hr, the powder-extruded compound was recrystallized. This caused a decrease in carrier concentration and crystallographic anisotropy. In case of the compound extruded at the ratio of 10:1, the Seebeck coefficient α and the electrical resistivity ρ increased due to recrystallization. However, thermal conductivity κ of the compound decreased. This resulted in an increase in the figure-of-merit from 1.23 × 10⁻³ to 1.63 × 10⁻³ K⁻¹.