Reclaim of wrecked Bi-Te based materials in peltier modules in thermopower properties By mechanical milling

Abstract

We thoroughly evaluated the effects of various treatments on the structural and electrical properties of the two as-cast materials, “Sb-doping Bi-Te (p-type)” and “Se-doping Bi-Te (n-type)” which are frequently present in abandoned Peltier modules. To investigate the thermoelectric properties of Bi2Te3-based materials, waste alloys characterized by electrical conductivity using the hot-end method. Alloys were purified by performing arc melting on a water-cooled copper crucible in a vacuum of at least 10-3 mbar, with five times melting sessions to assure homogeneity. A single and long milling period of 144 hours is applied. After the compressing operation, the resulting discs with nanostructures were annealed for an hour at 600 K under vacuum conditions. The discs' structural properties were characterized using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and their surfaces and stoichiometries were determined using scanning electron microscopy with an energy dispersive feature. The Seebeck coefficient of the nanoparticle formed n-type Bi-Te based sample is -35.3 µV.K-1 and p-type Bi-Te based sample is 100 µV.K-1 (15% of mean error margin). It was found that a notable improvement was attained in comparison to the initial state with the addition of nanoparticles.