Characteristics of nano crystallite Te-Bi composited thermoelectrics for cooling by screen printing

Since last decades the thermoelectric material has been much developed. Due to the raises of its efficiency, simple design, compact size, and environmental friendly usage, thermoelectric products have been applied to electric generation and cooling systems and shown big potential. The advanced thermoelectric cooling device based on Bismuth and Tellurium alloy has reached ZT ~ 1.1. However, theoretically if ZT > 2, thermoelectric device will be widely applied. In this work we used nano Bi and Te particle slurry in screen printing method to fabricate n-and p-type thermoelectric junction with Ag doping. Optic microscope images show nano Bi-Te crystallites and holes size distribution independence of sintering temperature and duration. Carrier concentration, electric conductivity, and thermo conductivity have been measured by Hall measurement and Thermoconductivity Analyzer, respectively. A tendency of raising the ZT has been found for the further cooling application.