RESEARCH NOTES: Changes produced in thermoelectric materials by thermal-neutron irradiation

The effects of thermal-neutron irradiation on the parameters involved in the thermoelectric figures of merit of Bi2Te3 and its thermoelectric alloys have been examined. It was found that integrated fluxes of up to 2 × 1018 neutrons/cm2 are not sufficiently high to affect the figures of merit of these materials by the introduction of radiation-induced phonon scattering centres. On the other hand, the results indicated that if still higher fluxes were employed it would become necessary to resort to excessive counter-doping in order to maintain the carrier densities in the materials at the optimum values.