Role of Nanostructuring and Microstructuring in Silver Antimony Telluride Compounds for Thermoelectric Applications (original) (raw)

Thermoelectric materials are of utmost significance for conversion of heat flux into electrical power in the low-power regime. Their conversion efficiency depends strongly on the microstructure. AgSbTe 2-based compounds are high-efficiency thermoelectric materials suitable for the mid-temperature range. Herein, we explore a Ag 16.7 Sb 30 Te 53.3 alloy (at. %) subjected to heat treatments at 380 °C for different durations aimed at nucleation and coarsening of Sb 2 Te 3-precipitates. To characterize the Sb 2 Te 3-precipitation, we use a set of methods