Fabrication of Titanium Oxide-Based Composites by Reactive SPS Sintering and Their Thermoelectric Properties

Abstract

Titanium oxide-based composites containing (1) Nb, (2) Nb and Sr, and (3) Sr and La were fabricated by a combination of wet processing and reactive spark plasma sintering in which the metal oxide components were reduced by reaction with titanium nitride. If only TiO₂ was used as the starting material, several Magneli-type phases of oxygen-deficient titanium oxides were obtained. When mixed with Nb ions with Ti:Nb = 0.9:0.1, microsegregation of Nb ions was observed (case 1). If Sr was added, a perovskite, SrTiO₃ (STO) phase occurred (case 2), which contained La ions in the case of La addition (case 3). The sintered compacts consisted largely of grains of about 1 μm in size. In the case of Ti-Nb combination (case 1), a unique stripe pattern also appeared inside the grains. The electrical conductivity increased monotonically with increasing temperature in the case of the pure Magneli phases and the Nb-containing composite, whereas bow-shaped temperature dependences with a maximum were observed in the case of the composites containing STO phases. The Seebeck coefficients were commonly negative, and the absolute values increased with temperature. The thermal conductivity was between 2 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ and 4 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ in the temperature range from room temperature to 800°C. A maximum ZT of 0.34 was achieved at 800°C (case 2).