• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.17 no.6
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• pp.494-498
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• 2010

The p-type thermoelectric compounds of $Bi_2Te_3$ based doped with 3wt% Te were fabricated by a combination of rapid solidification and spark plasma sintering (SPS) process. The effect of holding time during spark plasma sintering (SPS) on the microstructure and thermoelectric properties were investigated using scanning electron microscope (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD) and thermoelectric properties. The powders as solidified consisted of homogeneous thermoelectric phases. The thermoelectric figure of merit measured to be maximum ($3.41{\times}10^{-3}/K$) at the SPS temperature of $430^{\circ}C$.

• Electronic Materials Letters
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• v.14 no.6
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• pp.725-732
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• 2018

The thermoelectric and transport properties of Ti-doped FeVSb half-Heusler alloys were studied in this study. $FeV_{1-x}Ti_xSb$ (0.1 < x < 0.5) half-Heusler alloys were synthesized by mechanical alloying process and subsequent vacuum hot pressing. After vacuum hot pressing, a near singe phase with a small fraction of second phase was obtained in this experiment. Investigation of microstructure revealed that both grain and particle sizes were decreased on doping which would influence on thermal conductivity. No foreign elements pick up from the vial was seen during milling process. Thermoelectric properties were investigated as a function of temperature and doping level. The absolute value of Seebeck coefficient showed transition from negative to positive with increasing doping concentrations ($x{\geq}0.3$). Electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and power factor increased with the increasing amount of Ti contents. The lattice thermal conductivity decreased considerably, possibly due to the mass disorder and grain boundary scattering. All of these turned out to increase in power factor significantly. As a result, the thermoelectric figure of merit increased comprehensively with Ti doping for this experiment, resulting in maximum thermoelectric figure of merit for $FeV_{0.7}Ti_{0.3}Sb$ at 658 K.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.16 no.6
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• pp.382-385
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• 2006

Ni-doped $CoSb_3$ was prepared by the hot pressing, and its doping effects on the thermoelectric properties were investigated. Single phase ${\delta}-CoSb_3$ was successfully obtained by encapsulated induction melting and the subsequent heat treatment at 773 K for 24 hrs, followed by the hot pressing under 60 MPa at 773 K for 2 hrs. Nickel atoms acted as electron donors by substituting cobalt atoms. Thermoelectric properties were remarkably improved by the Ni doping.

• 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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• 2009.11a
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• pp.251-251
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• 2009

The generation of energy and the cooling of system using thermoelectric semiconductor material have been in spotlight. Thermoelectric effect increases with the decrease of the thermal conductivity. In the thermoelectric devices, thermal conductivity is related to phonon scattering. Therefore, few studies have been conducted in the thermoelectric materials dispersed nano oxide particle for increasing the phonon scattering. However, core-shell structure which nano particle disperses in solvents and then which thermoelectric materials coated on the nano oxide particles has not been reported. In this study, we selected commercial nano powder such as $Al_2O_3$. This nano particle was about 20nm and was crushed aggregate by mechanical treatment. We have developed the effect of the dispersant and the solvent. The properties of particles were evaluated by SEM, TEM, particle size analysis, and BET. Dispersion and dispersion stability were evaluated by electronic microscope and turbidity.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.401-405
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• 2011

Half-heusler phase ZrNiSn is one of the potential thermoelectric materials for high temperature application. In an attempt to investigate the effect of Sb doping on thermoelectric properties, half-heusler phase $ZrNiSn_{1-x}Sb_x$ ($0{\leq}x{\leq}0.08$) was synthesized by mechanical alloying of stoichiometric elemental powder compositions, and consolidated by vacuum hot pressing. Phase transformations during mechanical alloying and hot consolidation were investigated using XRD. Sb doped ZrNiSn was successfully produced in all doping ranges by vacuum hot pressing using as-milled powders without subsequent annealing. Thermoelectric properties as functions of temperature and Sb contents were evaluated for the hot pressed specimens. Sb doping up to x=0.04 in $ZrNiSn_{1-x}Sb_x$ was shown to be effective on thermoelectric properties and the figure of merit (ZT) was shown to reach to the maximum at x=0.02 in this study.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.15 no.7
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• pp.435-438
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• 2005

Single phase $Zn_4Sb_3$ with $98.5\%$ of theoretical density was successfully produced by direct hot pressing of elemental powders containing $1.2 at\%$ excess Zn for compensating the evaporation during the process. Temperature dependences of thermoelectric properties were investigated from 4 K to 300 K. Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity as well as thermoelectric figure of merit showed the discontinuity in variation at 242K, indicating the $\alpha-\beta$, phase transformation. Interestingly, it was found that lattice thermal conductivity by phonons is dominant in total thermal conductivity of $\alpha-\beta$. Therefore, it is expected that thermoelectric properties can be improved by reduction of lattice thermal conductivity inducing lattice scattering centers by doping and solid solution.

• Journal of Powder Materials
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• v.18 no.5
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• pp.423-429
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• 2011

Thermoelectric-thick films were fabricated by using a screen printing process of n and p-type bismuth-telluride-based pastes. The screen-printed thick films have approximately 30 ${\mu}m$ in thickness and show rough surfaces yielding an empty gap between an electrode and the thick film. The gap might result in an increase of an electrical resistivity of the fabricated thick-film-type thermoelectric module. In this study, we suggest a conductive metal coating onto the surfaces of the screen-printed paste in order to reduce the contact resistance in the module. As a result, the electrical resistivity of the thermoelectric module having a gold coating layer was significantly reduced up to 30% compared to that of a module without any metal coating. This result indicates that an introduction of conductive metal layers is effective to decrease the contact resistivity of a thick-film-typed thermoelectric module processed by screen printing.

• Korean Journal of Materials Research
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• v.27 no.8
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• pp.416-421
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• 2017

V-substituted $SrTiO_3$ thermoelectric oxide materials were fabricated by the conventional solid state reaction method. From X-ray diffraction pattern analysis, it can be clearly seen that almost every vanadium atom incorporated into the $SrTiO_3$ provided charge carriers. The electrical conductivity ${\sigma}$, Seebeck coefficient S, and thermal conductivity k were investigated in a high temperature regime above 1000 K. The addition of vanadium significantly reduced the thermal conductivity and enhanced the Seebeck coefficient, as well as the electrical conductivity, thus enhancing the ZT value. A maximum ZT value of 0.084 at 673 K was observed for the sample with 1.0 mole% of vanadium substitution. In this study, the reason for the enhanced thermoelectric properties via vanadium addition was also investigated.

• Proceedings of the Materials Research Society of Korea Conference
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• 2000.11a
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• pp.61-61
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• 2000