Rapid One-Step Synthesis and Compaction of High-Performance n-Type Mg3Sb2 Thermoelectrics

n-type Mg₃Sb₂-based compounds have emerged as a promising class of low-cost thermoelectric materials due to their extraordinary performance at low and intermediate temperatures. However, so far, high thermoelectric performance has merely been reported in n-type Mg₃Sb₂-Mg₃Bi₂ alloys with a large amount of Bi. Moreover, current synthesis methods of n-type Mg₃Sb₂ bulk thermoelectrics involve multi-step processes that are time- and energy-consuming. Herein, we report a fast and straightforward approach to fabricate n-type Mg₃Sb₂ thermoelectrics using spark plasma sintering, which combines the synthesis and compaction in one step. Using this method, we achieve a high thermoelectric figure of merit zT of about 0.4–1.5 at 300–725 K in n-type (Sc, Te)-co-doped Mg₃Sb₂ without alloying with Mg₃Bi₂. In comparison with the currently reported synthesis methods, the complexity, process time, and cost of our method are significantly reduced. This work demonstrates a simple, low-cost route for the potential large-scale production of n-type Mg₃Sb₂ thermoelectrics.