Patent ID: 8277904

Claim:
A method for producing a thermoelectric material, comprising: sensitizing a PbTe powder; mixing a solution containing metal ions with the sensitized PbTe powder to form a mixture, wherein a part or all of the metal ions are attached on the surface of PbTe powder; adding a reducing agent to the mixture, so that the metal ions attached on the PbTe powder are reduced to metal nano-particles; and after the metal ions attached on the PbTe powder are reduced to metal nano-particles, performing an electrical current activated sintering process to the PbTe powder with the metal nano-particle deposited thereon to form a thermoelectric material with a plurality of grain boundaries and to dope a part of the metal nano-particles into the thermoelectric material, wherein another part of the metal nano-particles remains on the grain boundaries, and the conductive type of the thermoelectric material is different from that of the PbTe powder.