CaltechAUTHORS
Published September 2011 | Version public
Journal Article Metadata-only

Zone Leveling Crystal Growth of Thermoelectric PbTe Alloys with Sb_(2)Te_3 Widmanstätten Precipitates

Creators

  • 1. ROR icon Japan Science and Technology Agency
  • 2. ROR icon California Institute of Technology

Abstract

Unidirectional solidification of PbTe-rich alloys in the pseudobinary PbTe-Sb_(2)Te_3 system using the zone leveling technique enables the production of large regions of homogeneous solid solutions for the formation of precipitate nanocomposites as compared with Bridgman solidification. (PbTe)_(0.940)(Sb_(2)Te_3)_(0.060) and (PbTe)_(0.952)(Sb_(2)Te_3)_(0.048) alloys were successfully grown using (PbTe)_(0.4)(Sb_(2)Te_3)_(0.6) and (PbTe)_(0.461)(Sb_(2)Te_3)_(0.539) as seed alloys, respectively, with 1 mm h^(–1) withdrawal velocity. In the unidirectionally solidified regions of both alloys, Widmanstatten precipitates are formed due to the decrease in solubility of Sb_(2)Te_3 in PbTe. To determine the compositions of the seed alloys for the zone leveling experiments, the solute distribution in solidification in the PbTe-richer part of the pseudobinary PbTe-Sb_(2)Te_3 system has been examined from the concentration profiles in the samples unidirectionally solidified by the Bridgman method.

Additional Information

© 2011 American Chemical Society. Received: June 15, 2011; revised: July 26, 2011; published: August 3, 2011. This work was funded by the PRESTO program (PRESTO: Precursory Research for Embryonic Science and Technology) of Japan Science and Technology Agency. Microscopy facilities are supported by NSF CSEM MRSEC at Caltech.

Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
25485
DOI
10.1021/cg2007588
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20110929-094451709

Funding

Japan Science and Technology Agency PRESTO Program

Dates

Created
2011-10-04
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-11-09
Created from EPrint's last_modified field