Thermoelectric properties of the hot-pressed Bi/sub 2/(Te,Se)/sub 3/ alloys with the Bi/sub 2/Se/sub 3/ content and addition of scattering center

Thermoelectric properties of the hot-pressed Bi/sub 2/(Te/sub 1-x/Se/sub x/)/sub 3/ alloys, prepared by melting/grinding and mechanical alloying, were investigated with the Bi/sub 2/Se/sub 3/ content. Whereas a p-n transition occurred at about 30 mol% Bi/sub 2/Se/sub 3/ in Bi/sub 2/(Te/sub 1-x/Se/sub x/)/sub 3/ single crystals, the hot-pressed specimens exhibited n-type conduction for all compositions of 0/spl les/x/spl les/1. Among the hot-pressed specimens, a maximum figure-of-merit of 1.92/spl times/10/sup -3//K was obtained with the Bi/sub 2/(Te/sub 0.85/Se/sub 0.15/)/sub 3/ composition. Thermoelectric properties of the mechanically-alloyed and hot-pressed Bi/sub 2/(Te/sub 0.85/Se/sub 0.15/)/sub 3/ were also investigated with addition of BN powders as scattering centers.