Single-phase zinc antimonide (ZnSb) was prepared using a mechanical grinding (MG) process. The ZnSb source ingots were prepared by direct melting of the constituent elements. Two processes were used to prepare the ingots. One of the processes involved quenching the molten material in water in an evacuated quartz ampoule. In the other process, an additional step consisting of heating for 100 h at 723 K was performed after quenching. The ground materials were obtained by mechanically grinding the resultant ingots and then hot-pressing at 673 K. The materials were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA), and thermoelectric property measurements. The results indicated that the materials were crack free and single phase. The thermal conductivity of the ground materials was 1.41 Wm À1 K À1 at room temperature. This value was lower than that reported in the available data for materials prepared by conventional melt growth and powder metallurgy methods. The ZnSb single phase was found to have a dimensionless figure of merit of 0.6-0.8 at 573 K.
N-type tellurium doped ZnSb was prepared by direct melting at 923 K after which it was quenched in water within an evacuated quartz ampoule. All the ingots were heat treated at 723 K for 100 h. The resultant samples were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), differential thermal analysis (DTA) and by measurement of their Seebeck and Hall coefficients. XRD and DTA indicated that the solubility limit of tellurium in ZnSb was less than 3 atomic%. The samples with 0, 1 and 3 atomic% tellurium were p-type while those with 1.90 and 2.06 atomic% tellurium were n-type. These results indicated that n-type ZnSb samples can be obtained by the proper doping of tellurium. Excess doping with tellurium resulted in precipitation of the ZnTe phase and a change in conduction from n-to p-type. The maximum power factor for the 2.06 atomic% tellurium doped n-type sample was found to be 0:84 Â 10 À3 W m À1 K
Single phase -Zn 4 Sb 3 was prepared by mechanical grinding (MG). Source materials for the Zn 4 Sb 3 ingots were prepared using three different processes after the direct melting of constituent elements. The ingot was obtained by quenching the melt in water within an evacuated quartz ampoule and heat-treated for a total of 200 h in two stages at 723 K and 673 K. The resultant ingots were mechanically ground and sintered at 623 K by hot pressing. The sintered materials were obtained crack-free single phase -Zn 4 Sb 3 and characterized by X-ray diffraction, differential thermal analysis (DTA) and thermoelectric property measurements. The thermal conductivity of the sintered materials was 0.88 Wm À1 K À1 at room temperature and this was slightly lower than that reported for the materials prepared by a conventional method. Results indicate that the -Zn 4 Sb 3 single phase of the dimensionless figure of merit ranged from 1.06-1.31 at 573 K.
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