Effect of dehydrated-attapulgite nanoinclusions on the thermoelectric properties of BiSbTe alloys

Dehydrated-attapulgite (D-ATP) is a kind of oxide possessing nanorod structure; its major component is SiO2 with Mg2+ and Al3+ cations. Here, we fabricated p-type BiSbTe alloys with D-ATP nanoinclusions by zone melting method and investigated their thermoelectric performance. Both the electrical and thermal transport properties have been optimized by adding D-ATP, especially the lattice thermal conductivity was decreased significantly. The maximum thermoelectric figure of merit ZT reached 1.3 at 420 K, which is a very profitable value for commercial applications.