Thermoelectric Properties of In and Cr Co-Doped BiSbTe₃

We conducted a study on excessive doping of the Cr and In elements in Bi-Sb-Te materials satisfying the HumeRothery rule, and investigated the resulting electrical and thermal properties. From X-ray diffraction (XRD) results, we confirmed the formation of a single phase even with excessive doping. Through analysis of electrical properties, we observed the highest enhancement in electrical characteristics at y = 0.2, suggesting that the appropriate ratio of Bi-Sb significantly influences this enhancement. Using the Callaway-von Baeyer (CvB) model to assess scattering due to point defects, we calculated the experimental point defect scattering factor (Γ_CvB.exp), which was notably high due to the substantial differences in volume and atomic weight between the substituted (Cr, In) and original (Bi, Sb) elements. Additionally, we conducted a single parabolic band (SPB) modeling analysis of materials with compositions y = 0.1 and 0.2, where, despite a decrease in densityof-states effective mass (m_d * ) during the enhancement process from y = 0.1 to 0.2, a sharp increase in non-degenerate mobility (μ0) led to an 88 % increase in weighted mobility (μw). Furthermore, analyzing zT with respect to nH revealed a 51 % increase in zT at a composition of y = 0.2. This study confirmed a significant reduction in lattice thermal conductivity with the co-doping strategy, and with further compositional studies to improve electrical properties, we anticipate achieving high zT.