| 摘要 |
PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a PbTe-based compound thermoelectric material having an enhanced thermoelectric property beyond the past limit, and a method of manufacturing the thermoelectric material that eliminates defects of the conventional compound thermoelectric materials. SOLUTION: A PbTe (lead telluride)-based compound thermoelectric material with a rock salt structure has a chemical composition of Ag<SB>1-x</SB>Pb<SB>18+y</SB>SbTe<SB>20</SB>(when a stoichiometric composition of AgPb<SB>18</SB>SbTe<SB>20</SB>, in which Ag and Sb substitute for part of Pb in PbTe, is regarded as a reference, x is the amount of shortage relative to the stoichiometric value of Ag, y is the amount of excess relative to the stoichiometric value of Pb, x=0.2 to 0.6, and y=3 to 5), and is characterized in that the thermoelectric property is a dimensionless performance index ZT greater than 1. A method of manufacturing the compound thermoelectric material comprises: a step of mixing powders of constituent elements at the measurement ratio corresponding to the chemical composition; a step of producing compound powder having the chemical composition by subjecting the powder mixture to a high-energy ball milling process or mechanical alloying; and a step of subjecting the produced compound powder to spark plasma sintering to harden and form the powder. COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT
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