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Enhancement in thermoelectric performance of SiGe nanoalloys dispersed with SiC nanoparticles

IR@NPL: CSIR-National Physical Laboratory, New Delhi

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Title Enhancement in thermoelectric performance of SiGe nanoalloys dispersed with SiC nanoparticles
 
Creator Bathula, Sivaiah
Jayasimhadri, M.
Jayasimhadri, M.
Kumar, Anil
Srivastava, A. K.
Dhar, Ajay
 
Subject Physical Chemistry
 
Description SiGe is one of the most widely used thermoelectric materials for radioisotope thermoelectric generator applications for harnessing waste-heat at high temperatures. In the present study, we report a simple experimental strategy for enhancing the thermoelectric and mechanical properties of n-type SiGe nanoalloys by dispersing SiC nanoparticles in a SiGe nanoalloy matrix. This strategy yielded a high value of figure-of-merit (ZT) of similar to 1.7 at 900 degrees C in the SiGe/SiC nanocomposite, which is nearly twice that reported for its pristine bulk counterpart and similar to 15% higher than that of pristine SiGe nanoalloys. This significant enhancement in the ZT primarily originates from a reduction in the lattice thermal conductivity, owing to a high density of nano-scale interfaces, lattice-scale modulations and mass fluctuations, which lead to extensive scattering of heat-carrying phonons. The dispersion of SiC nanoparticles also significantly enhances the mechanical properties of the resulting SiGe/SiC nanocomposite, including fracture toughness and hardness. The enhancement in the thermoelectric and mechanical properties of the SiGe/SiC nanocomposites has been correlated with their microstructural features, elucidated employing X-ray diffraction, and scanning and transmission electron microscopy.
 
Publisher Royal Society of Chemistry
 
Date 2017-09-28
 
Type Article
PeerReviewed
 
Format application/pdf
 
Identifier http://npl.csircentral.net/2703/1/Enhancement%20in%20thermoelectric%20performance%20of%20SiGe%20nanoalloys%20dispersed%20with%20SiC%20nanoparticles.pdf
Bathula, Sivaiah and Jayasimhadri, M. and Jayasimhadri, M. and Kumar, Anil and Srivastava, A. K. and Dhar, Ajay (2017) Enhancement in thermoelectric performance of SiGe nanoalloys dispersed with SiC nanoparticles. Physical Chemistry Chemical Physics, 19. pp. 25180-25185. ISSN 1463-9076
 
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