Synthesis and Characterization of Al- and SnO2-Doped ZnO Thermoelectric Thin Films

Giovanna Latronico; Saurabh Singh; Paolo Mele; Abdalla Darwish; Sergey Sarkisov; Sian Wei Pan; Yukihiro Kawamura; Chihiro Sekine; Takahiro Baba; Takao Mori; Tsunehiro Takeuchi; Ataru Ichinose; Simeon Wilson

doi:10.3390/ma14226929

Synthesis and Characterization of Al- and SnO₂-Doped ZnO Thermoelectric Thin Films

Materials (Basel). 2021 Nov 16;14(22):6929. doi: 10.3390/ma14226929.

Authors

Giovanna Latronico¹, Saurabh Singh², Paolo Mele¹, Abdalla Darwish³, Sergey Sarkisov⁴, Sian Wei Pan⁵, Yukihiro Kawamura⁵, Chihiro Sekine⁵, Takahiro Baba^{6

7}, Takao Mori^{6

7}, Tsunehiro Takeuchi², Ataru Ichinose⁸, Simeon Wilson³

Affiliations

¹ College of Engineering, Shibaura Institute of Technology, 307 Fukasaku, Minuma-ku, Saitama 337-8570, Saitama Prefecture, Japan.
² Toyota Technological Institute, Tempaku Ward, Hisakata 2-12-1, Nagoya 468-8511, Aichi Prefecture, Japan.
³ Physics and Engineering Department, Dillard University, 2601 Gentilly Blvd, New Orleans, LA 70122, USA.
⁴ SSS Optical Technologies, 515 Sparkman Drive, Huntsville, AL 35816, USA.
⁵ Muroran Institute of Technology, 27-1 Mizumotocho, Muroran 050-8585, Hokkaido Prefecture, Japan.
⁶ International Center for Materials Nanoarchitectonics (WPI-MANA), National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), Namiki 1-1, Tsukuba 305-0044, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.
⁷ Graduate School of Pure and Applied Sciences, University of Tsukuba, 1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba 305-8577, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan.
⁸ Central Research Institute of Electric Power Industry (CRIEPI), 2-6-1 Nagasaka, Yokosuka 240-0196, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan.

Abstract

The effect of SnO₂ addition (0, 1, 2, 4 wt.%) on thermoelectric properties of c-axis oriented Al-doped ZnO thin films (AZO) fabricated by pulsed laser deposition on silica and Al₂O₃ substrates was investigated. The best thermoelectric performance was obtained on the AZO + 2% SnO₂ thin film grown on silica, with a power factor (PF) of 211.8 μW/m·K² at 573 K and a room-temperature (300 K) thermal conductivity of 8.56 W/m·K. PF was of the same order of magnitude as the value reported for typical AZO bulk material at the same measurement conditions (340 μW/m·K²) while thermal conductivity κ was reduced about four times.

Keywords: Seebeck coefficient; oxides; thermal conductivity; thermoelectricity; thin film.

Abstract

Grants and funding