Synthesis of Nanostructured Antimony Telluride for Thermoelectric Applications

Abstract

Thermoelectric (TE) materials have been studied during past decades since they can generate electricity directly from waste heat. Antimony chalcogenides (Sb 2 M 3 , M = S, Se, Te) are well known as one of the promising candidates among the inorganic TE materials. We report on the synthesis of Sb 2 Te 3 nanoparticle via thermolysis method. A systematic study was done to investigate the effect of reaction time and ratio between the precursors as well as the method of cooling on the morphology and composition of obtained nanoparticles. The ratio between precursors was varied to study the effect on the morphology. Furthermore, the high purity phase Sb 2 Te 3 was obtained by a rapid cooling process.