Fabrication of thermoelectric Bi2Te2.5Se0.5 with adjustable porosity

Porous structures have attracted considerable interest for their impact on the transport and mechanical characteristics of materials. The fabrication of porous materials, however, often involves intricate preprocessing steps and typically lacks the ability to tailor porosity with ease. In the present study, we present a straightforward method to prepare porous Bi2Te2.5Se0.5 samples by employing low-pressure spark plasma sintering, with the porosity regulated by preset mass density using a modified graphite mold. This approach resulted in a substantial decrease in thermal conductivity, attributed to the introduction of pores that reduce mass density and disrupt phonon transmission. An accompanying decrease in electrical conductivity was also noted, arising from reduced carrier concentration and mobility. Despite these variations, all porous samples maintained similar levels of thermoelectric performance, with a peak zT of ca. 0.9 at 373 K. The average zT within the temperature range of 298–500 K remained slightly above 0.8 for all samples. Furthermore, the porous samples exhibited greatly enhanced mechanical properties. This work demonstrates a versatile and adaptable method to produce porous materials with controllable porosity, potentially applicable to other porous thermoelectric systems.