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Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity of mesoscopic nanocrystalline SrTiO3

  • Energy Materials & Thermoelectrics
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Abstract

In the present study, we investigate the effect of the grain boundaries on both the electrical transport and the thermoelectric properties. For this purpose, the Seebeck coefficient and the electrical conductivity of a model material, such as nominally pure SrTiO3 (single crystal, microcrystalline, and nanocrystalline), is measured under oxidizing conditions. The impedance spectroscopy measurements reveal a strong change of the conduction properties of the nanocrystalline sample compared with the unperturbed bulk properties, namely a reduction of the p-type conductivity by two orders of magnitude at high oxygen partial pressure. Similarly, the Seebeck coefficient values of the nanocrystalline sample exhibit remarkable deviations from the single crystal ones: Under oxidizing conditions, values up to 2160 μV K−1 (at 575 °C) are detected. More importantly, in the nanocrystalline sample, the dependence of the Seebeck coefficient on the concentration of the charge carriers is found to be four times larger than in the single crystal.

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Notes

  1. The figure of merit is defined as \( ZT = {{\alpha^{2} \sigma T} \mathord{\left/ {\vphantom {{\alpha^{2} \sigma T} \kappa }} \right. \kern-0pt} \kappa } \), where α is the Seebeck coefficient, σ the electrical conductivity, T the temperature, and κ the thermal conductivity.

  2. Typically, even a very small concentration (A) of impurities (acceptors) fixes the oxygen vacancies concentration at v = A/2.

  3. The value of \( \lambda^{*} \) can be determined according to the following equation

    \( \lambda^{*} = \sqrt {\frac{2{\varepsilon_{0} \varepsilon_{bulk} \Updelta \phi_{0} }}{em}} \)

    Note that the condition \( 2\lambda^{*} \ge L \) holds for values of different parameters which are characteristic for undoped SrTiO3, namely \( \varepsilon_{{r,{\text{bulk}}}} \) = 150, \( \Updelta \phi_{0} \) = 0.5 V and impurity concentration m ~300 ppm [12].

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Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank G. Götz and A. Fuchs for the XRD analysis and the SEM characterization, respectively. M. Weissmayer is thanked for his support for the acquisition of the single crystal conductivity data.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, Heisenbergstr. 1, 70569, Stuttgart, Germany

    G. Gregori, S. Heinze, P. Lupetin, H.-U. Habermeier & J. Maier

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  1. G. Gregori
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  2. S. Heinze
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  3. P. Lupetin
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  4. H.-U. Habermeier
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  5. J. Maier
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Correspondence to G. Gregori.

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Gregori, G., Heinze, S., Lupetin, P. et al. Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity of mesoscopic nanocrystalline SrTiO3 . J Mater Sci 48, 2790–2796 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-012-6894-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-012-6894-0

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