Enhancement of Thermoelectric Properties of Bismuth Telluride Composite with Gold Nano-Particles Inclusions Using Electrochemical Co-Deposition

In order to enhance the figure of merit ZT, gold nano-particles-bismuth telluride composites have been synthesized using the electrochemical co-deposition and a significant improvement of thermoelectric properties has been achieved. The composite with 5 wt% of 5 nm-diameter gold nano-particles shows highest absolute Seebeck coefficient (∼380 μV/K), low thermal conductivity (∼0.5 W/m·K) and high figure of merit ZT (∼0.62) at room temperature. This ZT value is approximately forty times better than that of the as-deposited pure bismuth telluride film synthesized using the electrochemical deposition with the similar condition.