Boron-Mediated Grain Boundary Engineering Enables Simultaneous Improvement of Thermoelectric and Mechanical Properties in N-Type Bi2Te3

Powder metallurgy introduces small structures of high-density grain boundaries into Bi2Te3-based alloys, which promises to enhance their mechanical and thermoelectric performance. However, due to the strong donor-like effect induced by the increased surface, Te vacancies form in the powder-metallurgy process. Hence, the as-sintered n-type Bi2Te3-based alloys show a lower figure of merit (ZT) value than their p-type counterparts and the commercial zone-melted (ZM) ingots. Here, boron is added to one-step-sintered n-type Bi2Te3-based alloys to inhibit grain growth and to suppress the donor-like effect, simultaneously improving the mechanical and thermoelectric (TE) performance. Due to the alleviated donor-like effect and the carrier mobility maintained in our n-type Bi2Te2.7Se0.3 alloys upon the addition of boron, the maximum and average ZT values within 298-473 K can be enhanced to 1.03 and 0.91, respectively, which are even slightly higher than that of n-type ZM ingots. Moreover, the addition of boron greatly improves the mechanical strength such as Vickers hardness and compressive strength due to the synergetic effects of Hall-Petch grain-boundary strengthening and boron dispersion strengthening. This facile and cost-effective grain boundary engineering by adding boron facilitates the practical application of Bi2Te3-based alloys and can also be popularized in other thermoelectric materials.

Automated summary

The addition of boron to Bi2Te3-based alloys during sintering inhibits grain growth and suppresses the donor-like effect, resulting in improved mechanical and thermoelectric performance. This efficient and cost-effective grain boundary engineering technique can potentially enhance the practical application of these alloys and be applied to other thermoelectric materials.