• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.33 no.1
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• pp.74-82
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• 1996

Fe-Si based powders prepare by melting the metals in the composition of FeSi2,.Fe0.95Mn0.05Si2 and Fe0.95Co0.05Si0.2 were used as the starting materials together with a commercial FeSi2 powder to study the effect of oxidation on their thermoelectric properties. The powders were heated at 650~80$0^{\circ}C$ in dired air before forming and sintering at 1190 and 120$0^{\circ}C$ in Ar+7%H2. The microstructure and phases of the annealed specimens were observed using the optical microscopty SEM, EDS and XRD. The thermoelectric properties of the specimens were also measured. The temperature at which Seebe다 coefficient showed the maximum value increased with the degree of oxidation. Electrical conductivity showed a tendency to decrease in the oxidized samples regardless of their compositions. Seebeck coefficient of the specimen showed almost the same value even after oxidation which may be explained by the formation of the discontinuous second phases from impurities in the oxidized specimens.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.16 no.7
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• pp.4835-4841
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• 2015

The effect of particle size and compaction pressure on the thermoelectric properties of n-type $FeSi_2$ was investigated. The starting powders with various particle size were pressed into a compact (compaction pressure; $70{\sim}220kg/cm^2$). The compact specimens were sintered at 1473 K for 7 h and annealed at 1103 K for 100 h under Ar atmosphere to transform to the semiconducting ${\beta}$-phase. The microstructure and phases of the specimens were observed by SEM, XRD and EDS. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient were measured simultaneously for the same specimen at r.t.~1023 K in Ar atmosphere. The electrical conductivity increased with decreasing particle size and hence the increases of relative density of the sintered body and the amount of residual metallic phase ${\varepsilon}$-FeSi due to a increase of the electrical conductivity. The Seebeck coefficient exhibited the maximum value at about 700~800 K and decreased with decreasing particle size. This must be due to a increase of residual metallic phase ${\varepsilon}$-FeSi. On the other hand, the change of compaction pressure appeared to have little effect on the thermoelectric properties. Consequently, the power factor would be affected more by particle size than compaction pressure.

• The Transactions of The Korean Institute of Electrical Engineers
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• v.65 no.4
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• pp.611-616
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• 2016

In this study, we synthesized $Ag_2Se$ nanoparticles (NPs) in an aqueous solution and investigated the thermoelectric characteristics of $Ag_2Se$ NPs thin films on plastic substrates. Regardless of thermal annealing treatment, all the $Ag_2Se$ NPs thin films show the negative Seebeck coefficients, indicating the n-type characteristics. As the annealing temperature increases, the electric conductivity increases while the Seebeck coefficient decreases. The electric conductivity of the thin film annealed at $180^{\circ}C$ is larger by $10^6$ times, compared with the as-prepared thin film, And the maximum power density for the thin film annealed at $180^{\circ}C$ is calculated to be $44{\mu}W/cm^2$.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.21 no.10
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• pp.542-545
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• 2011

Half-Heusler alloys are a potential thermoelectric material for use in high-temperature applications. In an attempt to produce half-Heusler thermoelectric materials with fine microstructures, TiCoSb was synthesized by the mechanical alloying of stoichiometric elemental powder compositions and then consolidated by vacuum hot pressing. The phase transformations during the mechanical alloying and hot consolidation process were investigated using XRD and SEM. A single-phase, half- Heusler allow was successfully produced by the mechanical alloying process, but a minor portion of the second phase of the CoSb formation was observed after the vacuum hot pressing. The thermoelectric properties as a function of the temperature were evaluated for the hot-pressed specimens. The Seebeck coefficients in the test range showed negative values, representing n-type conductivity, and the absolute value was found to be relatively low due to the existence of the second phase. It is shown that the electrical conductivity is relatively high and that the thermal conductivities are compatibly low in MA TiCoSb. The maximum ZT value was found to be relatively low in the test temperature range, possibly due to the lower Seebeck coefficient. The Hall mobility value appeared to be quite low, leading to the lower value of Seebeck coefficient. Thus, it is likely that the single phase produced by mechanical alloying process will show much higher ZT values after an excess Ti addition. It is also believed that further property enhancement can be obtained if appropriate dopants are selectively introduced into this MA TiCoSb System.

• Korean Journal of Metals and Materials
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• v.50 no.11
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• pp.839-845
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• 2012

The effect of an AlN additive on the thermoelectric properties of SiC ceramics was studied. Porous SiC ceramics with 48-54% relative density were fabricated by sintering the pressed ${\alpha}-SiC$ powder compacts with AlN at $2100-2200^{\circ}C$ for 3 h in an Ar atmosphere. In the 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. With AlN addition, the reverse phase transformation of 6H-SiC to 4H-SiC was observed during the sintering process. The electrical conductivity of the AlN doped specimen was larger than that of the undoped specimen under the same conditions, which might be due to a reverse phase trans-formation. The Seebeck coefficient of the AlN doped specimen was also larger than that of the undoped specimen. The density of specimen and the amount of addition had significant effects on the thermoelectric properties.

• Journal of the Korean Crystal Growth and Crystal Technology
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• v.15 no.2
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• pp.75-78
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• 2005

Silicon boride ($SiB_6$) is very promising for use as thermoelectric materials at high temperature because of its high melting point and relatively large Seebeck coefficient. In the present work, spark plasma sintering (SPS) was applied for preparing dense $SiB_6$ ceramics, and their thermoelectric properties were investigated, together with their microstructural evaluation. The SPS process was found to be effective in densifying a $SiB_6$ ceramic, typically 99 % of the theoretical density at low temperature of $1500^{\circ}C$. In comparison with $SiB_6$ specimen prepared by hot-pressing, the SPS-processed specimen exhibited the significantly improved Seebeck coefficient, resulting in the higher power factor.

• Journal of the Microelectronics and Packaging Society
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• v.19 no.1
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• pp.33-38
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• 2012

An in-plane thermoelectric sensor was processed on a glass substrate by evaporation of the n-type Bi-Te and p-type Sb-Te thin films, and its sensing characteristics were evaluated. The n-type Bi-Te thins film used to fabricate the inplane sensor exhibited a Seebeck coefficient of -165 ${\mu}V$/K and a power factor of $80{\times}10^{-4}W/K^2-m$. The p-type Sb-Te thin film used to fabricate the in-plane sensor exhibited a Seebeck coefficient of 142 ${\mu}V$/K and a power factor of $51.7{\times}10^{-4}W/K^2-m$. The in-plane thermoelectric sensor consisting of 15 pairs of the n-type Bi-Te and the p-type Sb-Te evaporated thin films exhibited a sensitivity of 2.8 mV/K.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.273-281
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• 2016

This review examines computational simulations of thermoelectric properties, such as electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity. With increasing computing power and the development of several efficient simulation codes for electronic structure and transport properties calculations, we can evaluate all the thermoelectric properties within the first-principles calculations with the relaxation time approximation. This review presents the basic principles of electrical and thermal transport equations and how they evaluate properties from the first-principles calculations. As a model case, this review presents results on $Bi_2Te_3$ and Si. Even though there is still an unsolved parameter such as the relaxation time, the effectiveness of the computational simulations on the transport properties will provide much help to experimental scientist researching novel thermoelectric materials.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2001.07a
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• pp.909-912
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• 2001

Lanthanide orthochromite materials have been widely studied as refractory conducting ceramics because of their electrical conductivity, oxidation resistance and high melting points. In this paper theoretical and experimental analysis about electric conductivity of the SHS prepared ceramics was carried out. The usefulness of the Seebeck-coefficient measurements as a function of P(O$_2$) is emphasized. Electronic conduction was found to be n-type in the lower P(O$_2$) range, and p-type in the higher P(O$_2$) range. The carrier concentrations were calculated as a function of P(O$_2$) and defect structure.

• Advances in materials Research
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• v.9 no.3
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• pp.171-187
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• 2020

The microstructural evolution of different compositions of Mg-Sn alloys (30%Sn-70%Mg, 40%Sn-60%Mg and 50%Sn-50%Mg) is studied at first to understand the changes observed with change in tin content and deformation conditions. The Mg₂Sn phase increases with increase in tin content and a significant substructure development is found in 50%Sn-50%Mg alloy. The above observation led to further deformation studies on Mg₂Sn based thermoelectric materials with higher tin percentage. The microstructure in terms of Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD)measurements is studied in detail followed by the determination of thermoelectric properties i.e., Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity for both as cast and extruded Mg_(2+x)Sn-Ag alloys. The electrical conductivity of the extruded Mg_(2+x)Sn-.3wt%Ag {x =1} alloy was found to be more than its as cast counterpart while the Seebeck coefficient values remained almost the same.