Layered Oxide thermoelectric materials

The growing concern over increasing energy cost and global warming associated with fossil fuel source has stimulated the search for cleaner, more sustainable energy sources. Among viable technologies, the thermoelectric (TE) material based devices have received much attention. The main advantages of the TE devices are solid state operation, zero emission, high scalability, no maintenance cost and long operating life. However, TE materials, though known for long time have been too inefficient to be cost effective in most of the applications. Hence to increase the efficiency, the electrical conductivity hast o be increased while maintaining the thermal conductivity to a minimum. One of the most promising candidates is SrTiO3 showing a very high ZTvalue, which is a measure for the efficiency of a TE genrator. Aim of this project ist o develop a processing route for coating of a substrate material with SrTiO3 and doped relativ materials. Within this work a strategy will be developed for future work and process improvement.