Effects of the Interface between Inorganic and Organic Components in a Bi2Te3–Polypyrrole Bulk Composite on Its Thermoelectric Performance

Abstract

We provided a method to hybridize Bi2Te3 with polypyrrole, thus forming an inorganic/organic bulk composite (Bi2Te3–polypyrrole), in which the effects of energy band junction and phonon scattering were expected to occur at the interface of the two components. Bi2Te3–polypyrrole exhibited a considerably high Seebeck coefficient compared to pristine Bi2Te3, and thus it recorded a somewhat increased power factor despite the loss in electrical conductivity caused by the organic component, polypyrrole. Bi2Te3–polypyrrole also exhibited much lower thermal conductivity than pristine Bi2Te3 because of the phonon scattering effect at the interface. We successfully brought about the decoupling phenomenon of electrical and thermal properties by devising an inorganic/organic composite and adjusting its fabrication condition, thereby optimizing its thermoelectric performance, which is considered the predominant property for n-type binary Bi2Te3 reported so far.

Interfacial effects in an inorganic/organic composite based on Bi2Te3inducing decoupled transport properties and enhanced thermoelectric performance

“…S1; ESI I †), we set an appropriate sintering temperature range for Bi 2 Te 3 (i.e., 350-400 C). 36 Because the Bi 2 Te 3 sintered at 350 C exhibits higher thermoelectric performance than that sintered at 400 C (Fig. S2; ESI II †), we attempt to deal with physical properties of the former, which are compared to those of the Bi 2 Te 3 / PEDOT:PSS composite, in the present study.…”

Tuning the Saturated Vapor Pressure of Solvothermal Synthesis to Boost the Thermoelectric Performance of Pristine Bi2Te3 Polycrystals by Anisotropy Strengthening

“…Besides, we achieved a high ZT of 0.56 at 369 K, which is significantly improved by ∼167% compared with that of the bulk material sintered from commercial Bi 2 Te 3 powders, indicating great potential for practical applications. Compared with the reported pristine polycrystalline Bi 2 Te 3 fabricated by different methods (Table S1 in the Supporting Information), − our as-achieved ZT value is relatively competitive.…”

The Effect of Reactive Electric Field-Assisted Sintering of MoS2/Bi2Te3 Heterostructure on the Phase Integrity of Bi2Te3 Matrix and the Thermoelectric Properties

“…Among the state-of-the-art TE materials, Bi 2 Te 3 -based compounds are well known as the best materials for near room-temperature applications and the research on nanostructured Bi 2 Te 3 -based compounds is increasing [19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26]. As the most popular candidate for TE power generation and refrigeration [19], quintuple-layered Bi 2 Te 3 is also known as a topological insulator (TI), with an insulating bulk and metallic surface states protected by time-reversal symmetry [27,28], meaning charge carriers are not backscattered by nonmagnetic impurities and defects.…”