We report on the successful hydrothermal synthesis of Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3, using water as the solvent. The products of the hydrothermally prepared Bi0.5 Sb1.5Te3 were hexagonal platelets with edges of 200–1500 nm and thicknesses of 30–50 nm. Both the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity of the hydrothermally prepared Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 were larger than those of the solvothermally prepared counterpart. Hall measurements of Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 at room temperature indicated that the charge carrier was p-type, with a carrier concentration of 9.47 9 1018 cm 3 and 1.42 9 1019 cm 3 for the hydrothermally prepared Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and solvothermally prepared sample, respectively. The thermoelectric power factor at 290 K was 10.4 lW/cm K2 and 2.9 lW/cm K2 for the hydrothermally prepared Bi0.5Sb1.5Te3 and solvothermally prepared sample, respectively.
