Preparation and characterization of the thermoelectric material Zn4Sb3

The thermoelectric materials gained a lot of attention in the last decades, due to their possible applications. The thermoelectric materials can generate electricity from heat and these materials have an efficiency which depends on the dimensionless figure of merit. Zn4Sb3 was reported as an excellent thermoelectric material in an intermediate temperature range (473-673 K). In addition to a promising thermoelectric performance, Zn4Sb3 has attracted attention for its other features, such as being an environmentally friendly material and with low costs of production. The aims of this paper are to present the results regarding the obtaining and the characterization of the thermoelectric Zn4Sb3 material synthesized by melting a precursors mixture at 1173K for 24 hours, using precursors with a high purity. The obtained material was analyzed and characterized through X-ray diffraction and by specific microscopic techniques as: energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The X-ray diffraction pattern show that beta - Zn4Sb3 was formed. The measured particles dimension on the scanned surfaces is between 2.1 and 3.2 mu m. Also, the average roughness - S-a and the root mean squared roughness - S-q were determined.