2006/12/15 by Hua Lin, Emil S. Božin, Lin, H. +9
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices #FOS: Physical sciences #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Other Condensed Matter (cond-mat.other) #nanoparticles nucleation surface interactions
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.cond-mat/0612414
openalex publication_date 2006/12/15 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The average and local structures of the (PbTe)1-x(PbS)x system of thermoelectric materials has been studied using the Rietveld and atomic pair distribution function (PDF) methods. Samples with 0:25 < x are macroscopically phase separated. Phase separation was suppressed in a quenched x = 0:5 sample which, nonetheless, exhibited a partial spinodal decomposition. The promising thermoelectric material with x = 0:16 showed intermediate behavior. Combining TEM and bulk scattering data suggests that the sample is a mixture of PbTe rich material and a partially spinodally decomposed phase similar to the quenched 50% sample. This results in a nano-meter scale inhomogeneous material that accounts for its very low thermal conductivity.