Synergistic effects of zirconium- and aluminum co-doping on the thermoelectric performance of zinc oxide

authors	Zakharchuk, KV; Tobaldi, DM; Xiao, XX; Xie, WJ; Mikhalev, SM; Martins, JF; Frade, JR; Weidenkaff, A; Kovalevsky, AV
nationality	International
journal	JOURNAL OF THE EUROPEAN CERAMIC SOCIETY
author keywords	Zinc oxide; Thermoelectric performance; Electrical properties; Thermal conductivity; Zirconium doping
keywords	AL-DOPED ZNO; ELECTRICAL-PROPERTIES; TRANSPORT-PROPERTIES; THIN-FILMS; POWER; MORPHOLOGY; CERAMICS; PROGRESS; LATTICE
abstract	This work aims to explore zirconium as a possible dopant to promote thermoelectric performance in bulk ZnO-based materials, both within the single-doping concept and on simultaneous co-doping with aluminum. At 1100-1223 K mixed-doped samples demonstrated around similar to 2.3 times increase in ZT as compared to single-doped materials, reaching similar to 0.12. The simultaneous presence of aluminum and zirconium imposes a synergistic effect on electrical properties provided by their mutual effects on the solubility in ZnO crystal lattice, while also allowing a moderate decrease of the thermal conductivity due to phonon scattering effects. At 1173 K the power factor of mixed-doped Zn0.994Al0.003Zr0.003O was 2.2-2.5 times higher than for single-doped materials. Stability tests of the prepared materials under prospective operation conditions indicated that the gradual increase in both resistivity and Seebeck coefficient in mixed-doped compositions with time may partially compensate each other to maintain a relatively high power factor.
publisher	ELSEVIER SCI LTD
issn	0955-2219
isbn	1873-619X
year published	2019
volume	39
issue	4
beginning page	1222
ending page	1229
digital object identifier (doi)	10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2018.11.029
web of science category	Materials Science, Ceramics
subject category	Materials Science
unique article identifier	WOS:000457819600066