Thermoelectric performance of Ni, Co, and Fe nanoparticles incorporated into their metal borates glassy matrices

Abstract

Here, we present our current attempt to intrinsically dope Ni 0 , Co 0 , and Fe 0 nanoparticles within Ni II -, Co II -, and Fe II -borate glassy matrices, respectively. The system was prepared by one-pot reaction of the desired M T II salt with excess NaBH 4 through an in-situ reduction and hydrolysis processes to afford metallic M T 0 nanoparticles dispersed into the M T -BO 3 matrix. The composition and structural characteristics of these M T 0 :M T -BO 3 materials were identified by thermal oxidation, ATR-IR, X-ray powder diffraction, and magnetic techniques as glassy/amorphous borate matrices containing magnetic nanoparticles. The electrical conductivity (σ) of cold-pressed discs of these metal-doped composites shows that they behave as nonohmic semiconductors within the temperature range of 303 ≤ T ≤ 373 K suggesting a mixed electronic-ionic conduction. However, their thermal conductivity (κ) occurs through phonon lattice vibration dynamics rather than electronic. The σ/κ ratio shows a steep non-linear increase from 9.4 to 270 KV À2 in Ni 0 :Ni-BO 3 . In contrast, a moderate-weak increase is observed for Co 0 :Co-BO 3 and Fe 0 :Fe-BO 3 analogs. The obtained materials are examined for thermoelectric (TE) applications by determining their Seebeck coefficient (S) power factor (PF), figure of merit (ZT), and conversion efficiency (η%). All the TE data shows that Ni 0 :Ni-BO 3 (S, 80 μVK À1 ; PF, 97.7 mWm À1 K À1 ; ZT 0.54; η, 2.15%) is a better TE semiconductor than the other two M T 0 :M T -BO 3 . This finding shows that Ni 0 :Ni-BO 3 is a promising candidate to exploit low-temperature waste heat from body heat, sunshine, and small domestic devices for small-scale TE applications.