| Title |
High-Performance Ag/Ag2Te-Integrated Sb2Te3 Thermoelectric Films via Two Step Plating |
| Authors |
(Ji Hee Pi) ; (Yong Whan Kim) ; (Yan Gu) ; (Nosang Vincent Myung) ; (Kyu Hyoung Lee) ; (Jeong Yun Hwang) |
| DOI |
https://doi.org/10.3365/KJMM.2026.64.4.325 |
| ISSN |
1738-8228(ISSN), 2288-8241(eISSN) |
| Keywords |
Electrodeposition; Electroless Ag plating; Power factor; Sb2Te3; Thermoelectric film |
| Abstract |
Thermoelectric (TE) films offer a promising way to integrate energy harvesting and thermal
management, however, their widespread adoption is often limited by fabrication routes that are complex, costly,
and difficult to scale. Many existing approaches rely on vacuum-based equipment or high-temperature
processing, which increases manufacturing burdens and constrains practical deployment. Electroless plating
provides a convenient and low-cost method to introduce metals and tailor electrical transport properties, yet
it has not been widely utilized as a performance-optimization strategy for TE films. Here, we demonstrate a
simple two step plating strategy, electrodeposition followed by electroless Ag plating, combined with lowtemperature
annealing to fabricate polycrystalline p-type Sb2Te3-based TE films and to achieve high TE
performance (conversion efficiency and reliability). Sb2Te3 films were first prepared by electrodeposition,
achieved by reducing the tartaric acid content in the electrolyte. The as-deposited Sb2Te3 film exhibited a high
electrical conductivity of ~3502 S cm-1, however, substantial variation in the batch-to-batch electronic transport
properties was observed, limiting their practical applications. To address this issue, Ag was introduced by
electroless plating, followed by annealing at 393 K, which produced a multiphase Ag/Ag2Te/Sb2Te3 architecture.
This multiphase structure improves the reliability of TE properties: batch-to-batch variations in both electrical
conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient were significantly reduced compared with those of the electrodeposited
Sb2Te3 film. Consequently, a high and stable room-temperature power factor of 648 μW m-1 K-2 was achieved.
These results indicate that plating-based fabrication can simultaneously simplify processing and improve TE
performance, enabling scalable production and performance tuning of TE films. |