Cu-intercalated (Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3)0.96(Bi2Se3)0.04 single crystals

A procedure is described for converting the conductivity type (p → n) of single crystals of the Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3-4 mol % Bi2Se3 solid solution via copper intercalation. Using this procedure, we have produced high-performance single-crystal n-legs with a room-temperature thermoelectric power α = −200 μV/K. This procedure facilitates the fabrication of thermoelectric coolers because the same solid solution can be used to produce p-and n-legs, the only difference being the presence of copper in the n-legs. We have fabricated thermolements and determined their characteristics in the range 100–300 K.