Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties of Ag-Modified Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ Composites by a Facile Electroless Plating Method

A large-scale and facile electroless plating Ag method has been developed to fabricate high-performing Ag/Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ (Ag/BST) composites. Ag can be doped into BST and also forms Ag₂Te secondary phase in BST, leading to a low lattice thermal conductivity of 0.34 Wm^-1K^-1. Consequently, a peak zT of 1.07 and average zT of 1.02 are achieved in 0.03wt% Ag/BST. The average zT value is enhanced by 100% in the temperature interval from 300 to 500 K compared with that of Ag-free BST. This work provides a facile and large-scale method to fabricate the high performance Bi₂Te₃-based alloy for applying in the low-temperature power generation.