TERNARY THERMOELECTRIC MATERIALS AND METHODS OF FABRICATION

摘要

A thermoelectric material and a method of fabricating a thermoelectric material are provided. The thermoelectric material includes a compound having an elemental formula of A 1 -xB 1 +yC2+z and having a coefficient of thermal expansion greater than 20 parts-per-million per degree Celsius in at least one direction at one or more operating temperatures. The A component of the compound includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of: at least one Group Ia element and at least one Group Ib element, the B component of the compound includes at least one element selected from the group consisting of: at least one Group V element and at least one Group VIII element, and the C component of the compound includes at least one Group VI element. In addition, x is between -0.2 and 0.3, y is between -0.2 and 0.4, and z is between -0.2 and 0.8. Furthermore, the A component includes no more than 95 atomic % silver when the B component includes antimony and the C component includes tellurium, the B component includes no more than 95 atomic % antimony when the A component includes silver and the C component includes tellurium, and the C component includes no more than 95 atomic % tellurium when the A component includes silver and the B component includes antimony.