Patent ID: 7790137

Claim:
A process for synthesizing a metal telluride comprising: dissolving a metal precursor in a solvent containing a ligand to form a metal-ligand complex in a solution, said metal precursor containing a metal ion selected from the group consisting of: lead, tin and bismuth; and reacting said metal-ligand complex in said solution with a telluride source and forming metal telluride nanoparticles, wherein the metal telluride nanoparticles have a composition of (PbTe) 1-x-y (SnTe) x (Bi 2 Te 3 ) y where x is between 0 and 1 inclusive and y is between 0 and 1 inclusive with the proviso that x+y is less than or equal to 1; the nanoparticles having a mean linear dimension of from 2 to 40 nanometers, inclusive, and providing the metal telluride with improved thermoelectric properties.