High-pressure thermopower of PbTe-based compounds

In the present paper the thermoelectric properties of p-type PbTe-based compounds (Pb1-xGaxTe, Pb1-xSnxTe, Pb1-xSixTe, Pb1-xMnxTe, PbTe1-y, Pb1-yTe) have been investigated at high pressure up to similar to12 GPa. Structural phase transitions from cubic NaCl into orthorhombic GeS structure have been observed with thermoelectric measurements. A low sensitivity of thermoelectric properties to high-pressure treatment has been found for PbSnTe compounds (x approximate to 0.29). For the rest of the samples with a small content of doping atoms a sign inversion and a following maximum of thermoelectric power S have been established at pressures similar to1-3 GPa. The results obtained show the possibility of improving the thermoelectric figure of merit and effectiveness at moderate pressures for PbTe-based compounds. (C) 2004 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.