Characterization of commercial thermoelectric organic composite thin films

A series traditional thermoelectric films, including n-type Bi, Bi 2 Te 3 , and p-type Sb, Sb 2 Te 3 , were synthesized with CH 3 NH 3 I by combining magnetron sputtering and thermal evaporation method. It is found that the Seebeck coefficients for all the composite films have enhanced although the electrical conductivities reduced due to the decreased carrier concentration. This leads to an obvious improvement of the power factor, especially for p-type Sb 2 Te 3 -based organic–inorganic hybrid films. As expected, a maximum power factor value around 2.3 mWm −1 K −2 has been achieved for the composition of Sb 2 Te 3 /CH 3 NH 3 I in range of the whole measured temperature, which is nearly seven times higher than that of pristine Sb 2 Te 3 film. By combination with the reduced thermal conductivity, a ZT value nearly 1.0 has been obtained at 380 K for the composition of Sb 2 Te 3 /CH 3 NH 3 I.