Journal of Inorganic Materials, Volume. 38, Issue 7, 800(2023)

Hygrothermal Stability of Bi2Te3-based Thermoelectric Materials

Yani XIAO1, Jianan LYU1,2, Zhenming LI3, Mingyang LIU3, Wei LIU3, Zhigang REN4, Hongjing LIU4, Dongwang YANG1、*, and Yonggao YAN1、*
Author Affiliations
  • 11. State Key Laboratory of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
  • 22. Nanostructure Research Center, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
  • 33. Energy Storage and Electrotechnics Department, China Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing 100192, China
  • 44. SGCC Beijing Electric Power Research Institute, Beijing 100075, China
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    Bi2Te3-based thermoelectric (TE) materials have already been commercialized, of which the hygrothermal stability has a direct impact on the service reliability of TE devices, but is still confronted many challenges. This work investigated the degradation behavior of commercial n-type Bi2Se0.21Te2.79 and p-type Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 TE materials during storage in 85 ℃, 85% RH hygrothermal environment for 600 h. The surfaces of n-type Bi2Se0.21Te2.79 and p-type Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 TE materials were oxidized with reaction process of Bi2Te3+O2→Bi2O3+TeO2 and Bi2Te3+Sb2Te3+O2→Bi2O3+Sb2O3+TeO2, respectively. The oxidation process creates nanoscale holes and even microcracks inside the material, which leads to an overall deterioration of the electrical and thermal properties. At room temperature, the electrical conductivity of the n-type Bi2Se0.21Te2.79 material drops from 9.45×104 S·m-1 to 7.79×104 S·m-1 after exposure, and ZT decreases from 0.97 to 0.79, while Seebeck coefficient of the p-type Bi0.4Sb1.6Te3 material declines from 243 μV·K-1 to 220 μV·K-1, correspondingly, ZT decreases from 1.24 to 0.97. In conclusion, Bi2Te3-based TE materials have extremely poor hygrothermal stability, and their corresponding micro-TE devices need to be strictly encapsulated in service to prevent complex redox reactions between the TE materials themselves and the environmental water vapor and air.

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    Yani XIAO, Jianan LYU, Zhenming LI, Mingyang LIU, Wei LIU, Zhigang REN, Hongjing LIU, Dongwang YANG, Yonggao YAN. Hygrothermal Stability of Bi2Te3-based Thermoelectric Materials [J]. Journal of Inorganic Materials, 2023, 38(7): 800

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    Paper Information

    Category:

    Received: Dec. 5, 2022

    Accepted: --

    Published Online: Dec. 28, 2023

    The Author Email: YANG Dongwang (ydongwang@whut.edu.cn), YAN Yonggao (yanyonggao@whut.edu.cn)

    DOI:10.15541/jim20220736

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