The thermoelectric and mechanical properties of Mg2(Si0.3Sn0.7)0.99Sb0.01 prepared by one-step solid state reaction combined with hot-pressing

Achieving high-performance by an effective and convenient preparation method is of great significance to the application of thermoelectric materials. Herein, we propose a facile method combined one-step solid state reaction (SSR) with hot pressing (HP) to fabricate Mg-2(Si0.3Sn0.7)(0.99)Sb-0.01. Although the main products after the SSR are Mg2Si and Mg2Sn compounds as well as various Mg2Si1-xSnx phases, the compact bulk sample with anti-fluorite structure is obtained in 2 h of HP process by controlling HP temperature. The obtained Mg-2(Si0.3Sn0.7)(0.99)Sb-0.01 exhibits a decent figure of merit of 1.37 at 673 K associated with a flexural strength of 74 MPa, which is fully comparable with the samples prepared by the method of two-step SSR combined with sintering technique, but the process of our method is obviously simplified. (C) 2021 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

High-performance thermoelectric materials can be achieved through an effective and convenient preparation method combining one-step solid state reaction (SSR) with hot pressing (HP), which can produce compact samples with an anti-fluorite structure by controlling the HP temperature. The obtained Mg-2(Si0.3Sn0.7)(0.99)Sb-0.01 shows a decent figure of merit and flexural strength, comparable to samples prepared by more complicated methods.