Mechanochemical synthesis of Ba-doped BiCuSeO oxyselenides: influence of processing conditions on phase formation

Abstract

We report a novel rapid synthesis method for Ba-doped BiCuSeO using mechanochemical synthesis. The phase formation mechanism during high-energy milling as well as the combined effects of the powder-to-ball mass ratio and the heterovalent substitution of bismuth by barium on the thermoelectric properties was investigated. It was shown that the single-phase oxyselenide compounds are formed after 25 minutes of ball milling. The thermoelectric properties of these samples were found to be comparable with the properties of oxyselenides prepared via conventional solid-state reaction reported in the literature.