Structural, thermal, optical, and photoacoustic study of nanocrystalline Bi2Te3 produced by mechanical alloying

Nanocrystalline Bi2Te3 was produced by mechanical alloying and its properties were investigated by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) x-ray diffraction (XRD), Raman spectroscopy (RS), and photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS). Combining the XRD and RS results, the volume fraction of the interfacial component in as-milled and annealed samples was estimated. The PAS results suggest that the contribution of the interfacial component to the thermal diffusivity of nanostructured Bi2Te3 is very significant.