Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 22, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancements in High-Performance Thermoelectric Thin Films Through Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering
Published on: May 17, 2024
Effect of indium doping on structure and thermoelectric properties of bismuth telluride
Shouling Wang1, Mengli Wang2, Yan Zhou3
1Anhui Engineering Research Center of Highly Reactive Micro-Nano Powders, Chizhou University, Chizhou 247100, People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
Owing to their high near-room-temperature conversion efficiency, bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) and its alloys are prominent thermoelectric (TE) materials. Indium (In) is an uncommon dopant in TE materials, yet the TE properties of hydrothermally synthesized In-doped Bi2Te3have not been reported. Herein, we report the synthesis of In-doped Bi2-xInxTe3(x= 0, 0.1, 0.2, 0.3) by a hydrothermal method combined with hot press sintering. The incorporation of In enhanced the Seebeck coefficient and suppressed thermal conductivity, primarily due to the reduced carrier concentrations and intensified phonon scattering. Consequently, a maximumzTvalue of 0.21 was obtained at 350 K for Bi1.9In0.1Te3sample, approximately 162.5% improvement over the undoped counterpart, demonstrating the effectiveness of In doping in improving the TE properties of Bi2Te3.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Semiconductors
Semiconductors
Metals such as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), or lead (Pb) have low resistivity and feature conduction bands that are either not fully occupied or overlap with the valence band, making a bandgap non-existent. This allows electrons in the highest energy levels of the valence band to easily transition to the conduction band upon gaining...
Biasing of Metal-Semiconductor Junctions
In Schottky junctions, where the semiconductor is n-type, applying a positive voltage to the metal relative to the semiconductor reduces its Fermi...
Diode: Forward bias
The behavior of a diode in forward bias...
Metal-Semiconductor Junctions
Schottky Barriers
Schottky barriers arise when a metal with a work function (Φm) contacts a semiconductor with a different work function (Φs). Initially, electrons transfer until the Fermi levels of the metal and semiconductor align at equilibrium. For instance, if Φm > Φs, the semiconductor Fermi level is higher than the metal's before contact. The...
Fermi Level
At absolute zero temperature, electrons fill all energy states up to the Fermi level, leaving upper states empty. As the temperature rises,...

