Doping effects on the thermoelectric properties of Cu-intercalated Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3

We herein report an enhancement of the thermoelectric performance of spark plasma sintered polycrystalline n-type Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 by the intercalation of Cu and the doping of Al on Bi-sites. Through the intercalation of a small amount of Cu (0.008), the reproducibility could be significantly improved, with ZT was enhanced from 0.64 to 0.73 at 300 K due to the reduced lattice thermal conductivity benefiting from intensified point-defect phonon scattering. We also found that Al is an effective doping element for power factor enhancement and for reducing the lattice thermal conductivity of Cu-intercalated Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3. With these synergetic effects, an enhanced ZT values of 0.78 at 300 K and 0.81 at 360 K were obtained in 1 at% Al-doped Cu_0.008Bi₂Te_2.7Se_0.3 (Cu_0.008Bi_1.98Al_0.02Te_2.7Se_0.3).