Crystalline–Amorphous Silicon Nanocomposites with Reduced Thermal Conductivity for Bulk Thermoelectrics

Responding to the need for thermoelectric materials with high efficiency in both conversion and cost, we developed a nanostructured bulk silicon thermoelectric materials by sintering silicon crystal quantum dots of several nanometers in diameters synthesized by plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD). The material consists of hybrid structures of nanograins of crystalline silicon and amorphous silicon oxide. The percolated nanocrystalline region gives rise to high power factor with the high doping concentration realized by PECVD, and the binding amorphous region reduces thermal conductivity. Consequently, the nondimensional figure of merit reaches 0.39 at 600 °C, equivalent to the best reported value for silicon thermoelectrics. The thermal conductivity of the densely packed material is as low as 5 W m(-1) K(-1) in a wide temperature range from room temperature to 1000 °C, which is beneficial not only for the conversion efficiency but also for material cost by requiring less material to establish certain temperature gradient.