• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.56 no.3
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• pp.325-330
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• 2019

Band convergence is known to be effective in improving thermoelectric performance by increasing the Seebeck coefficient without significantly reducing electrical conductivity. Decoupling of the Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity in converged bands is the key requirement. Yet, the degree of decoupling depends on the band parameters of the converging bands. Herein, we report theoretical transport properties of two valence bands as their energy difference changes from 0.25 eV to 0 eV. In order to demonstrate the effect of band parameters in transport, we first conducted calculations for the case where the two bands have the same parameters. Then, we conducted the same calculation by doubling the density-of-states effective mass of one valence band. Given that there are two bands, each band's effective mass was doubled one at a time while the other band's effective mass remained constant. We found that the decoupling was strongest when the bands participating in convergence had the same band parameters.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.13-19
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• 2021

This study examined the effects of stacking faults on the thermoelectric properties for n-type SiC semiconductors. Porous SiC semiconductors with 30~42 % porosity were fabricated by the heat treatment of pressed ��-SiC powder compacts at 1600~2100 ℃ for 20~120 min in an N2 atmosphere. XRD was performed to examine the stacking faults, lattice strain, and precise lattice parameters of the specimens. The porosity and surface area were analyzed, and SEM, TEM, and HRTEM were carried out to examine the microstructure. The electrical conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient were measured at 550~900 ℃ in an Ar atmosphere. The electrical conductivity increased with increasing heat treatment temperature and time, which might be due to an increase in carrier concentration and improvement in grain-to-grain connectivity. The Seebeck coefficients were negative due to nitrogen behaving as a donor, and their absolute values also increased with increasing heat treatment temperature and time. This might be due to a decrease in stacking fault density, i.e., a decrease in stacking fault density accompanied by grain growth and crystallite growth must have increased the phonon mean free path, enhancing the phonon-drag effect, leading to a larger Seebeck coefficient.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.13 no.8
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• pp.543-549
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• 2003

In order to investigate the thermoelectric properties of $Zn_{k}$ $In_2$$O_{ 3＋k}$ homologous compounds, the samples of $Zn_{k}$ /$In_2$$O_{3＋k}$ / (k = integer between 1 and 9) were prepared by calcining the mixed powders of ZnO and $In_2$$O_3$fellowed by sintering at 1823 K for 2 hours in air, and their electrical conductivities and Seebeck coefficients were measured as a function of temperature in the range of 500 K to 1150 K. X-ray diffraction analysis of the sintered samples clarified that single-phase specimens were obtained for $Zn_{k} /$In_2$$O_{3＋k}$ with k = 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9. Electrical conductivity of the $Zn_{k}$ $In_2$$O_{3＋k}$ / decreased with increasing temperature, and decreased with increasing k for k $\geq$ 3. The Seebeck coefficient was negative at all the temperatures for all compositions, confirming that $Zn_{k}$ $In_2$$O_{3＋k}$ / is an n-type semiconductor. Absolute values of the Seebeck coefficient increased linearly with increasing temperature and increased with increasing k for k $\geq$ 3. The temperature dependence of the Seebeck coefficient indicated that Z $n_{k}$I $n_2$ $O_{3＋k}$ could be treated as an extrinsic degenerate semiconductor. Figure-of-merits of Z $n_{k}$I $n_2$ $O_{3＋k}$ were evaluated from the measured electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient, and the reported thermal conductivity. Z $n_{7}$ I $n_2$ $O_{10}$ has the largest figure-of-merit over all the temperatures, and its highest value was $1.5{\times}$10$^{-4}$ $K^{-1}$ at 1145 K.5 K.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.41-45
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• 2004

P-type $Bi_{0.5}$$Sb_{1.5}$ $Te_3$ thin films were deposited by the flash evaporation technique, and their thermoelectric properties and electronic transport parameters were investigated. The effective mean free path model was adopted to examine the thickness effect on the thermoelectric properties. Annealing effects on the carrier concentration and mobility were also studied, and their variations were analyzed in conjunction with the antisite defects. Seebeck coefficient and electrical resistivity versus inverse thickness showed a linear relationship, and the effective mean free path was found to be 3150$\AA$. No phase transformation and composition change were observed after annealing treatment, but carrier mobility increased due to grain growth. Carrier concentration decreased considerably due to reduction of the antisite defects, so that electrical conductivity decreased and Seebeck coefficient increased. When annealed at 473 K for 1 hr, Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity were $160\mu$V/K and 610 $W^{-1}$ $cm^{ -1}$, respectively. Therefore, the thermoelectric quality factor were also enhanced to be $16\mu$W/cm $K^2$.>.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers A
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• v.37 no.8
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• pp.961-966
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• 2013

A coupled governing equation of thermoelectric materials can be converted into an uncoupled form to predict the effective Seebeck coefficient of thermoelectric composites, where modified Eshelby model is adopted. The predicted results by the present approach for serial- and parallel-connected composites and composite with spherical inclusions are compared with theoretical and experimental results from literatures to be justified. It is shown that the predictions by the theoretical approaches coincide exactly and show in good agreement with the experiments.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.412-422
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• 1990

Porous SiC ceramics were proposed to be promising materials for high-temperature thermoelectric energy conversion. Throughthe thermoelectric property measurements and microstructure observations on the porous alpha SiC and the mixture of $\alpha$-and $\beta$-SiC, it was experimentally clarified that elimination of stacking faults and twin boundaries by grain growth is effective to increase the seebeck coefficient and increasing content of $\alpha$-SiC gives rise to lower electrical conductivity. Furthermore, the effects of additives on the thermoelectric properties of 6H-SiC ceramics were also studied. The electrical conductivity and the seebeck coefficient were measured at 35$0^{\circ}C$ to 105$0^{\circ}C$ in argon atmospehre. The thermoelectric conversion efficiency of $\alpha$-SiC ceramics was lower than that of $\beta$-SiC ceramics. The phase homogeneity would be needed to improve the seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity decreased with increasing the content of $\alpha$-phase. In the case of B addition, XRD analysis showed that the phase transformation did not occur during sintering. On the other hand, AlN addiiton enhanced the reverse phase transformation from 6H-SiC to 4H-SiC, and this phenomenon had a great effect upon the electrical conductivity.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.8
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• pp.456-460
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• 2011

Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS)-fabricated suspended devices were used to measure the in-plane electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity of 304 nm and 516 nm thick InGaAlAs films with 0.3% ErAs nanoparticle inclusions by volume. The suspended device allows comprehensive thermoelectric property measurements from a single thin film or nanowire sample. Both thin film samples have identical material compositions and the sole difference is in the sample thickness. The measured Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, and thermal conductivity were all larger in magnitude for the thicker sample. While the relative change in values was dependent on the temperature, the thermal conductivity demonstrated the largest decrease for the thinner sample in the measurement temperature range of 325 K to 425 K. This could be a result of the increased phonon scattering due to the surface defects and included ErAs nanoparticles. Similar to the results from other material systems, the combination of the measured data resulted in higher values of the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) for the thinner sample; this result supports the theory that the reduced dimensionality, such as in twodimensional thin films or one-dimensional nanowires, can enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit compared with bulk threedimensional materials. The results strengthen and provide a possible direction in locating and optimizing thermoelectric materials for energy applications.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.37 no.7
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• pp.632-637
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• 2000

Thermoelectric conversion properties of commercial Fe-Si2 and Fe-Si alloy ingots prepared by RF inductive furnace were investigated. As sintering temperature increased, density of the specimen increased and the phase transformation from metallic phases ($\varepsilon$-FeSi, ${\alpha}$-Fe2Si5) to semiconducting phase (${\beta}$-FeSi2) occurred more effectively. The FeSi phase was detected even after 100hrs of annealing treatment. For the Fesi1.95∼FeSi2.05 specimens prepared by RF inductive furnace, the thermoelectric property improved as the composition of the specimen approached to stoichiometric composition FeSi2. Electrical conductivity of the specimen increased with increasing temperatures showing typical semiconducting behavior. From the electrical conductivity measurements, activation energy in the intrinsic region (above about 700 K) was calculated to be approximately 0.46 eV. In spite of non-doping, the Seebeck coefficient for every specimen exhibited p-type conduction due to Si deficiency. Its maximum value was located at about 475 K, and then decreased abruptly with increasing temperatures. The power factor was governed by the Seebeck coefficient of the specimen more significantly than by electrical conductivity.

• Electronic Materials Letters
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.725-732
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• 2018

The thermoelectric and transport properties of Ti-doped FeVSb half-Heusler alloys were studied in this study. $FeV_{1-x}Ti_xSb$ (0.1 < x < 0.5) half-Heusler alloys were synthesized by mechanical alloying process and subsequent vacuum hot pressing. After vacuum hot pressing, a near singe phase with a small fraction of second phase was obtained in this experiment. Investigation of microstructure revealed that both grain and particle sizes were decreased on doping which would influence on thermal conductivity. No foreign elements pick up from the vial was seen during milling process. Thermoelectric properties were investigated as a function of temperature and doping level. The absolute value of Seebeck coefficient showed transition from negative to positive with increasing doping concentrations ($x{\geq}0.3$). Electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and power factor increased with the increasing amount of Ti contents. The lattice thermal conductivity decreased considerably, possibly due to the mass disorder and grain boundary scattering. All of these turned out to increase in power factor significantly. As a result, the thermoelectric figure of merit increased comprehensively with Ti doping for this experiment, resulting in maximum thermoelectric figure of merit for $FeV_{0.7}Ti_{0.3}Sb$ at 658 K.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.40 no.10
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• pp.991-997
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• 2003

The effect of A1$_4$C$_3$ additive on the thermoelectric properties of SiC ceramics were studied. Porous SiC ceramics with 47∼59% relative density were fabricated by sintering the pressed $\alpha$-SiC powder compacts with A1$_4$C$_3$at 2100∼220$0^{\circ}C$ for 3 h in Ar atmosphere. Crystalline phases of the sintered bodies were identified by powder X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) and their microstructures were observed with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). In the case of A1$_4$C$_3$ addition, the phase transformation of 6H-SiC to 4H-SiC could be observed during sintering. The Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity were measured at 550∼95$0^{\circ}C$ in Ar atmosphere. In the case of undoped specimens, the Seebeck coefficients were positive (p-type semiconducting) possibly due to a dominant effect of the acceptor impurities (Al, Fe) contained in the starting powder and electrical conductivity increased as increasing sintering temperature. Electrical conductivity of A1$_4$C$_3$doped specimen is larger than that of undoped specimen under the same condition, which might be due to the reverse phase transformation and increasing of carrier density. And the Seebeck coefficient of A1$_4$C$_3$ doped specimen is also larger than that of undoped specimen. The density of specimen, the amount of addition and sintering atmosphere had significant effects on the thermoelectric property.