creators_name: May, Andrew
creators_name: Fleurial, Jean-Pierre
creators_name: Snyder, G. Jeffrey
creators_id: May-A-F
creators_id: Fleurial-J-P
creators_id: Snyder-G-J
type: article
datestamp: 2008-09-20 01:42:52
lastmod: 2008-09-20 01:42:52
metadata_visibility: show
title: Thermoelectric performance of lanthanum telluride produced via mechanical alloying
ispublished: pub
subjects: cls
full_text_status: public
keywords: carrier density; chemical analysis; degenerate semiconductors; Hall mobility; heavily doped semiconductors; lanthanum compounds; mechanical alloying; Seebeck effect; thermal conductivity
note: ©2008 The American Physical Society. 

(Received 30 April 2008; revised 25 June 2008; published 19 September 2008) 

The authors thank the JPL Thermoelectrics Group for help with various measurements and Sossina Haile for useful discussions regarding material processing. They thank Teruyuki Ikeda for performing the electron microprobe measurements and Chi Ma of the Caltech GPS Analytical Facility for discussions regarding the ZAF correction employed. Richard Blair is acknowledged for useful discussions regarding mechanical alloying and crystallite size determination, as are J. Aldrich and Y. Bar-Cohen for providing equipment and assistance with the ultrasonic measurements. The work described in this paper was performed at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology under a contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.
abstract: Lanthanum telluride (La3−xTe4) has been synthesized via mechanical alloying and characterized for thermoelectric performance. This work confirms prior reports of lanthanum telluride as a good high-temperature thermoelectric material, with zT~1.1 obtained at 1275 K. The thermoelectric performance is found to be better than that of SiGe, the current state-of-the-art high-temperature n-type thermoelectric material. Inherent self-doping of the system allows control over carrier concentration via sample stoichiometry. Prior high-temperature syntheses were prone to solute rejection in liquid and vapor phases, which resulted in inhomogeneous chemical composition and carrier concentration. The low-temperature synthesis provides homogeneous samples with acceptable control of the stoichiometry, and thus allows a thorough examination of the transition from a heavily doped degenerate semiconductor to a nondegenerate semiconductor. The effect of carrier concentration on the Hall mobility, Seebeck coefficient, thermal and electrical conductivity, lattice thermal conductivity, and thermoelectric compatibility are examined for 0.03<=x<=0.33.
date: 2008-09-15
date_type: published
publication: Physical Review B
volume: 78
number: 12
publisher: American Physical Society
pagerange: Art. No. 125205
id_number: CaltechAUTHORS:MAYprb08
refereed: TRUE
issn: 1098-0121
official_url: http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:MAYprb08
related_url_url: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.78.125205
related_url_url: http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRB/v78/e125205
related_url_type: doi
related_url_type: pub
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citation: May, Andrew and Fleurial, Jean-Pierre and Snyder, G. Jeffrey (2008) Thermoelectric performance of lanthanum telluride produced via mechanical alloying. Physical Review B, 78 (12). Art. No. 125205. ISSN 1098-0121 http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:MAYprb08 <http://resolver.caltech.edu/CaltechAUTHORS:MAYprb08>
document_url: http://authors.library.caltech.edu/11700/1/MAYprb08.pdf