Recent Developments in β-Zn₄Sb₃ Based Thermoelectric Compounds

Figure 7

Cross sectional schematics of (a) the energy bands for Cu₃SbSe₄  (band gap ) and β-Zn₄Sb₃ matrix (band gap ) before contact (where and are the conduction band bottoms and and are the valence band tops), and (b) p-p type interface potential barriers (lower schematic) with an effective barrier height formed from band bending, where the upper schematic shows the corresponding Cu₃SbSe₄ particle with hierarchical nanostructures embedded in β-Zn₄Sb₃ matrix, where is the particle size of Cu₃SbSe₄, and , , and are the chemical potentials for the inclusions, matrix, and the composite system, respectively. Reproduced with permission from [21]. Copyright 2014, American Institute of Physics.

(a)

(b)