Physical Sciences and Mathematics Commons^™

Texturing In Bi2Te3 Alloy Thermoelectric Materials: An Applied Physics Investigation, Oluwagbemiga P. Ojo

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Thermoelectric devices provide the means for direct conversion between heat and electricity. The device conversion efficiency, or performance, is directly related to the thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, of the working materials. Bismuth telluride alloys are the materials currently in use in most thermoelectric devices for near room temperature solid-state refrigeration and power conversion applications. The vast majority of publications in the literature on thermoelectricity report on investigations towards developing new materials with enhanced thermoelectric properties, however Bi₂Te₃ alloys have been used in thermoelectric devices for decades.

In this thesis, an investigation of crystallographic texturing on large …