The traditional zone melting (ZM) method for the fabrication of state of the art Bi₂Te₃-based thermoelectric materials has long been considered a time and energy intensive process. Herein, a combustion synthesis known as the thermally induced flash synthesis (TIFS) is employed to synthesize high performance p-type BiSbTe alloys within 20 min compared to tens of hours for the ZM samples. The thermodynamic parameters and phase transformation mechanism during the TIFS process were systematically studied for the first time. TIFS combined with plasma activated sintering (PAS) results in a single phase homogeneous material with excellent repeatability, high thermoelectric performance (maximum ZT ∼ 1.2 at 373 K) and robust mechanical properties in a very short time of less than 20 min. The technologically relevant average ZT value of TIFS-PAS fabricated Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ from 298 K to 523 K is 0.86, about a 46% improvement over the ZM sample. The compressive and bending strength of TIFS-PAS Bi_0.5Sb_1.5Te₃ are also improved by about 5 fold compared with those of the ZM samples. Thermoelectric power generation modules assembled using the TIFS-based high performance n and p type materials show the largest thermoelectric conversion efficiency of 5.2% when subjected to a temperature gradient of 250 K, representing about 42% enhancement compared with the commercial ZM-based module. Because of the simplicity and scalability of the process and short synthesis time, the TIFS-PAS technology provides a new and efficient way for large-scale, economical fabrication of Bi₂Te₃-based thermoelectrics.

中文翻译：

---

通过超快速热诱导反应制备的p-BiSbTe化合物的高热电性能†

长期以来，用于制造基于Bi ₂ Te ₃的热电材料的传统区域熔化（ZM）方法一直被认为是时间和能量密集的过程。在此，与ZM样品的数十小时相比，采用称为热诱导闪速合成（TIFS）的燃烧合成在20分钟内合成高性能p型BiSbTe合金。首次系统地研究了TIFS过程中的热力学参数和相变机理。TIFS与等离子活化烧结（PAS）结合使用可形成单相均质材料，具有出色的可重复性，高热电性能（最大ZT在373 K时约为1.2），并且在不到20分钟的极短时间内便具有强大的机械性能。TIFS-PAS制成的Bi _0.5 Sb _1.5 Te ₃从298 K到523 K的技术相关平均ZT值为0.86，比ZM样品提高了约46％。TIFS-PAS Bi _0.5 Sb _1.5 Te ₃的抗压强度和弯曲强度与ZM样品相比，它们的含量也提高了约5倍。使用基于TIFS的高性能n和p型材料组装的热电发电模块在温度梯度为250 K时显示出最大的热电转换效率，为5.2％，与商用的基于ZM的模块相比，提高了约42％。由于该方法的简单性和可扩展性以及较短的合成时间，TIFS-PAS技术为大规模，经济地制造基于Bi ₂ Te ₃的热电学提供了一种新的有效途径。