OXIDE MATERIALS FOR THERMOELECTRIC APPLICATIONS

Abstract

The main aim of this project is development of thin films at lower cost and calculation of the thermoelectric properties of undoped and doped Zinc Oxide(ZnO). The thermoelectric properties include electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient. This was achieved by growing undoped and doped ZnO on a cleaned glass substrate using Spray Pyrolysis Method at high temperature (~450°C). The precursor used was Zinc Chloride (ZnCl2) and Aluminium Chloride (AlCl3.6H2O) with distilled water in the proportion of 0, 1, 3 and 5% wt. The film formed by spraying solution showed that after doping the film becomes even more conducting. The conclusions made from this experiment are (i) the growth of the film deposition highly depends on the substrate temperature, (ii) the resistivity of the film also depends on the temperature, (iii) increase in doping concentration decreases particle size.