LAUSR

Abstract This paper presents an additive-based approach to the formulation of thermoelectric materials suitable for screen printing. Such printing processes are a likely route to such thermoelectric applications as micro-generators for wireless sensor networks and medical devices, but require the development of materials that can be sintered at ambient pressure and low temperatures. Using a rapid screening process, we identify the eutectic combination of antimony and tellurium as an additive for bismuth-antimony-telluride that enables good thermoelectric performance without a high pressure step. An optimized composite of 15 weight percent Sb 7.5 Te 92.5 in Bi 0.5 Sb 1.5 Te 3 is scaled up and formulated into a screen-printable paste. Samples fabricated from this paste achieve a thermoelectric figure of merit ( ZT) of 0.74 using a maximum processing temperature of 748 K and a total thermal processing budget of 12 K-hours.