Thermoelectric materials have been the topic of intensive research due to their unique dual capability of directly converting heat into electricity or electrical power into cooling or heating. Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) is the best-known commercially used thermoelectric material in the bulk form for cooling and power generation applications In this work we focus on the large scale synthesis of nanostructured undoped bulk nanostructured Bi2Te3 materials by employing a novel bottom-up solution-based chemical approach. Spark plasma sintering has been employed for compaction and sintering of Bi2Te3 nanopowders, resulting in relative density of g·cm-3 while preserving the nanostructure. The average grain size of the final compacts was obtained as 200 nm after sintering. An improved NS bulkundoped Bi2Te3 is achieved with sintered at 400℃ for 4 min holding time.

(Ba0.85Ca0.15)(Ti0.9Zr0.1)O3+0.04wt% CeO2 lead-free ceramics were prepared by conventional oxide-mixed method and the effect of sintering temperature on microstructure, dielecrric and piezoelectric properties were investigated. Improved piezoelectric properties have been observed at 1,400℃ sintering temperature which show the optimal electrical properties, kp~0.412, d33~316 Pc/N, Qm~144, ~3,345 and Tc~85℃. These results show that the sintering temperature plays an important role in piezoelectric properties.

In this study, piezoelectric and dielectric properties of Lead-free 0.97[(K0.5Na0.5)(Nb0.97Sb0.03)O3] + 0.03[(Bi0.5K0.5)TiO3] (abbreviated as 0.97NKNS-0.03BKT)ceramics synthesized by conventional solid-state reaction process were investigated as a function of K5.4Cu1.3Ta10O29 addition. The results indicated that the K5.4Cu1.3Ta10O29 addition significantly improved the sinterability, grain growth and piezoelctric properties of 0.97NKNS-0.03BKT ceramics. The optimum values as planar piezoelectric coupling coefficient (kp= 0.355), piezoelectric constant (d33= 207 pC/N) and mechanical quality factor (Qm= 128) were obtained when 0.009KCT was added. The electromechanical coupling factor(kp )was slightly decreased according to the increasing temperature.