Phonon Scattering and Suppression of Bipolar Effect in MgO/VO(2) Nanoparticle Dispersed p-Type Bi(0.5)Sb(1.5)Te(3) Composites

Bismuth-Telluride-based compounds are unique materials for thermoelectric cooling applications. Because Bi(2)Te(3) is a narrow gap semiconductor, the bipolar diffusion effect is a critical issue to enhance thermoelectric performance. Here, we report the significant reduction of thermal conductivity by decreasing lattice and bipolar thermal conductivity in extrinsic phase mixing of MgO and VO(2) nanoparticles in Bi(0.5)Sb(1.5)Te(3) (BST) bulk matrix. When we separate the thermal conductivity by electronic [Formula: see text] , lattice [Formula: see text] , and bipolar [Formula: see text] thermal conductivities, all the contributions in thermal conductivities are decreased with increasing the concentration of oxide particle distribution, indicating the effective phonon scattering with an asymmetric scattering of carriers. The reduction of thermal conductivity affects the improvement of the ZT values. Even though significant carrier filtering effect is not observed in the oxide bulk composites due to micro-meter size agglomeration of particles, the interface between oxide and bulk matrix scatters carriers giving rise to the increase of the Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity. Therefore, we suggest the extrinsic phase mixing of nanoparticles decreases lattice and bipolar thermal conductivity, resulting in the enhancement of thermoelectric performance over a wide temperature range.