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Dopant Distributions in PbTe-Based Thermoelectric Materials

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Abstract

Atom-probe tomography (APT) is utilized to characterize the dopant distribution in two thermoelectric materials systems: (1) PbTe-2 mol.%SrTe-1 mol.%Na2Te, and (2) codoped PbTe-1.25 mol.%K-1.4 mol.%Na. We observe the presence of Na-rich precipitates of a few nanometers in diameter in both systems. Both concentration frequency distribution analyses and partial radial distribution functions are employed to analyze the tendency for dopant clustering detected by APT. In the codoped sample, K accumulates significantly in Na-rich precipitates, while in the Sr-containing sample, Sr is homogeneously distributed. High-resolution transmission electron microscopy also reveals the presence of precipitates having platelet morphology, which are oriented parallel to the {001} planes.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208-3108, USA

    Ivan D. Blum, Dieter Isheim, David N. Seidman, Jiaqing He & Vinayak P. Dravid

  2. Northwestern University Center for Atom-Probe Tomography, Evanston, IL, 60208-3108, USA

    Dieter Isheim & David N. Seidman

  3. Department of Chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, 60208-3113, USA

    John Androulakis, Kanishka Biswas & Mercouri G. Kanatzidis

Authors
  1. Ivan D. Blum
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  2. Dieter Isheim
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  3. David N. Seidman
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  4. Jiaqing He
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  5. John Androulakis
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  6. Kanishka Biswas
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  7. Vinayak P. Dravid
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  8. Mercouri G. Kanatzidis
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Correspondence to David N. Seidman.

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Blum, I.D., Isheim, D., Seidman, D.N. et al. Dopant Distributions in PbTe-Based Thermoelectric Materials. J. Electron. Mater. 41, 1583–1588 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-012-1972-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-012-1972-2

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