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Defects Engineering for Performing SrTiO3-Based Thermoelectric Thin Films: Principles and Selected Approaches

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Advanced Ceramic and Metallic Coating and Thin Film Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications

Abstract

Thermoelectric energy-conversion technology based on oxide materials offers promising advantages over “traditional” non-oxide and intermetallics systems due to higher stability of oxides at elevated temperatures and in various redox conditions, high natural abundance and favourable environmental issues. Oxides also possess a unique defect chemistry, which can be precisely controlled by external redox conditions and redox-sensitive substitutions. Donor-substituted strontium titanate SrTiO3 represents a family of promising n-type thermoelectric materials, with specific electronic structure tunable via introduction of structural defects, and prevailing lattice contribution to the thermal transport, enabling various lattice engineering approaches to suppress the thermal conductivity. Based on review of the recently published research results, this chapter aims to demonstrate how, through controlled defect chemistry engineering in SrTiO3-based materials, one can tune the thermoelectric performance, breaking the coupling between thermal and electrical properties. The approach is based on compositional design in model systems, where prevailing defect types are shifted from extended oxygen-rich planes to oxygen vacancies, accompanied by presence of the A-site cationic deficiency. The contributions from various defects in the crystal lattice into electronic and thermal transport are demonstrated and discussed. The concept represents particular interest for thermoelectric films and superlattices based on strontium titanate, where introduction of specific defect types with potential impact on thermoelectric performance can be achieved in easier and/or more controllable manner.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the FCT Investigator program (grant IF/00302/2012) and project CICECO-Aveiro Institute of Materials (ref. UID/CTM/50011/2013), financed by COMPETE 2020 Programme and National Funds through the FCT/MEC and when applicable co-financed by FEDER under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement. AK would like also to acknowledge the contributions of the following researchers to the previously published results, used as an experimental support for the discussion, namely, Dr. A. A. Yaremchenko, Dr. S. G. Patrício, Dr. J. Macías, Dr. N. M. Ferreira, Dr. S. M. Mikhalev, Dr. D. P. Fagg, Prof. J. R. Frade (University of Aveiro), Dr. S. Populoh, Dr. Ph. Thiel (Empa), Prof. A. Weidenkaff (University of Stuttgart), and Dr. M. H. Aguirre (University of Zaragoza).

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  1. Department of Materials and Ceramic Engineering, CICECO—Aveiro Institute of Materials, University of Aveiro, 3810-193, Aveiro, Portugal

    Andrei V. Kovalevsky

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  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA

    Jing Zhang

  2. School of Materials Science and Engineering, Changwon National University , Changwon, Gyeongnam, Korea (Republic of)

    Yeon-Gil Jung

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Kovalevsky, A.V. (2018). Defects Engineering for Performing SrTiO3-Based Thermoelectric Thin Films: Principles and Selected Approaches. In: Zhang, J., Jung, YG. (eds) Advanced Ceramic and Metallic Coating and Thin Film Materials for Energy and Environmental Applications. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-59906-9_4

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