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Dalton Transactions

The international journal for inorganic, organometallic and bioinorganic chemistry



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Dalton Trans., 2010, 39, 1027 - 1030, DOI: 10.1039/b916028k

Effect of Zn doping on improving crystal quality and thermoelectric properties of borosilicides

Takao Mori, David Berthebaud, Toshiyuki Nishimura, Akiko Nomura, Toetsu Shishido and Kazuo Nakajima

Transition-metal (Mo, Mn, Fe, Rh, Ti, Cu, Zn) doping was carried out on the borosilicide compound REB44Si2 (RE = rare earth). REB44Si2 compounds exhibit Seebeck coefficients greater than 200 µV K-1 at high temperatures and unlike most compounds, the figure of merit shows a steep increase at T > 1000 K making them promising high-temperature thermoelectric materials. Although zinc itself does not remain in the final product, zinc doping was found to improve the crystal quality, which has been a long-standing problem for the borosilicides. As a result, a significant increase of the thermoelectric power factor by more than 30% was achieved.

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