Influence of Al and Mg addition on thermoelectric properties of higher manganese silicides obtained by reactive sintering

Higher manganese silicides (HMS), represented by MnSix x = 1.71-1.75), are promising p-type candidates for thermoelectric (TE) energy harvesting systems at intermediate temperature range. The materials are very attractive as they may replace lead based compounds due to their nontoxicity, low cost of starting materials, and high thermal and chemical stability. Dense pellets were obtained through fast reactive sintering by spark plasma sintering (SPS). The addition -or nanoinclusion, of Al and Mg permitted the figure of merit enhancement of the material obtained with this technique, reaching the highest value of 0.40 at 600 C. Morphology, composition and crystal structure of the samples were characterized by electron microscopies, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, and X-ray diffraction analyses, respectively.