The Thermoelectric Figure of Merit in the Mixed Crystal System p‐(Bi1−xSbx)2Te3

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Abstract
The figure of merit Z is a measure for the effectiveness of the thermoelectric material p‐(Bi1−xSbx)2Te3and depends on the valence band structure, the charge carrier scattering, the lattice thermal conductivity, and the free carrier density. It is shown that crystals with the compositionx= 0.75 are favoured by the band structure to have the highest figure of merit in this mixed crystal series. In the frame of a consistent model for the electronic structure the theory—experiment comparison gives good quantitative agreement for theZ(S)‐plot in terms of effective masses and lattice thermal conductivity over a wide range of the Seebeck coefficientS.