Thermoelectric Properties of Nanostructured p-Mg^sub 2^Si^sub x^Sn^sub 1-x^ (x = 0.2 to 0.4) Solid Solutions

Issue Title: 2015 International Conference on Thermoelectrics. Guest Editors: Jihui Yang, Matt Beekman, Donald Morelli, James Salvador, David Singh, Hsin Wang, Emmanuel Guilmeau, Juri Grin, Bertrand Lenoir, Xinfeng Tang, Wenqing Zhang, Chunlei Wan, TieJun Zhu, Ryoji Funahashi, Takao Mori, Tsunehiro Takeuchi, Sabah Bux ZT can be increased by implementing nanoscale effects. Separating electron and phonon scattering on grain boundaries is one of these. We try to improve the thermoelectric properties of p-type Mg^sub 2^Si^sub x^Sn^sub 1-x^ (x = 0.2, 0.3, 0.4) solid solutions by preparing samples from nanopowder with grains tens of nanometers in size. Samples were obtained with 10^sup 20^ cm^sup -3^ hole carrier concentration. The Seebeck coefficient (S) and electrical (σ) and thermal ([kappa]) conductivities were measured in the temperature range from 300 K to 800 K, and the results compared with the thermoelectric properties of the same solid solutions prepared by other methods. The samples exhibited a maximum dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) of about 0.4, not exceeding the value of 1.0 for polycrystalline samples of alloys with the same composition.