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. 2019 Mar 4;12(5):734.
doi: 10.3390/ma12050734.

Thermoelectric Properties of Scandium Sesquitelluride

Dean Cheikh  1 , Kathleen Lee  2 , Wanyue Peng, Alexandra Zevalkink, Jean-Pierre Fleurial  3 , Sabah K Bux  4
Affiliations

Thermoelectric Properties of Scandium Sesquitelluride

Dean Cheikh et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

Rare-earth (RE) tellurides have been studied extensively for use in high-temperature thermoelectric applications. Specifically, lanthanum and praseodymium-based compounds with the Th₃P₄ structure type have demonstrated dimensionless thermoelectric figures of merit (zT) up to 1.7 at 1200 K. Scandium, while not part of the lanthanide series, is considered a RE element due to its chemical similarity. However, little is known about the thermoelectric properties of the tellurides of scandium. Here, we synthesized scandium sesquitelluride (Sc₂Te₃) using a mechanochemical approach and formed sintered compacts through spark plasma sintering (SPS). Temperature-dependent thermoelectric properties were measured from 300⁻1100 K. Sc₂Te₃ exhibited a peak zT = 0.3 over the broad range of 500⁻750 K due to an appreciable power factor and low-lattice thermal conductivity in the mid-temperature range.

Keywords: rare-earth telluride; scandium telluride; thermoelectric.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Powder X-ray diffraction pattern of Sc2Te3 sample. The pattern agrees well with the Sc2Te3 phase (blue lines). A small amount of the rhombohedral Sc2Te3 phase was detected and marked. (b) Back-scattered electron (BSE) SEM micrograph of the polished surface of the Sc2Te3. Dark regions are from residual porosity present in the sample. A small number of Fe contaminants (light regions) were observed and confirmed through energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Temperature-dependent (a) electrical resistivity, (b) Seebeck coefficient, (c) Hall carrier concentration, (d) Hall mobility, and (e) power factor of Sc2Te3.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Temperature-dependent (a) thermal conductivity and (b) thermoelectric figure of merit.
Figure 4
Figure 4
A comparison of (a) the lattice thermal conductivity, (b) experimental volume thermal expansion, V/Vo (c) the temperature-dependent Young’s moduli, and (d) shear moduli of PrTe1.46, LaTe1.46, and Sc2Te3. Data for PrTe1.33 and LaTe1.46 are from reference [7].
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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