TY - JOUR A1 - Schulz, T. A1 - Reimann, T. A1 - Bochmann, A. A1 - Vogel, A. A1 - Capraro, B. A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Teichert, S. A1 - Töpfer, J. T1 - Sintering behavior, microstructure and thermoelectric properties of calcium cobaltite thickfilms for transversal thermoelectric multilayer generators JF - Journal of the European Ceramic Society N2 - The sintering behavior and the thermoelectric performance of Ca3Co4O9 multilayer laminates were studied, and a multilayer thermoelectric generator was fabricated. Compacts and multilayer samples with anisotropic microstructure and residual porosity were obtained after conventional sintering at 920 °C, whereas dense and isotropic multilayer samples were prepared by firing at 1200 °C and reoxidation at 900 °C. A hot-pressed sample has a dense and anisotropic microstructure. Samples sintered at 920 °C exhibit low electrical conductivity due to the low density, whereas the Seebeck coefficient is not sensitive to preparation conditions. However, thermal conductivity of multilayers is very low, and, hence acceptable ZT values are obtained. A ransversal multilayer thermoelectric generator (TMLTEG) was fabricated by stacking layers of Ca3Co4O9 green tapes, AgPd conductor printing, and co-firing at 920 °C. The TMLTEG has a power output of 3 mW at ΔT =200 K in the temperature interval of 25 °C to 300 °C. KW - Thermoelectric oxide KW - Calcium cobaltite KW - Pressure-assisted sintering KW - Multilayer PY - 2018 DO - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jeurceramsoc.2017.11.017 SN - 0955-2219 SN - 1873-619X VL - 38 IS - 4 SP - 1600 EP - 1607 PB - Elsevier Ltd. AN - OPUS4-43983 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Bresch, Sophie A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Schönauer-Kamin, D. A1 - Moos, R. A1 - Giovanelli, F. A1 - Rabe, Torsten T1 - Influence of pressure assisted sintering and reaction sintering on microstructure and thermoelectric properties of bi-doped and undoped calcium cobaltite JF - Journal of Applied Physics N2 - Calcium cobaltite (Ca3Co4O9) is considered as one of the most promising thermoelectric p-type oxides for energy harvesting applications at temperatures above 500 °C. It is challenging to sinter this material as its stability is limited to 920 °C. To facilitate a practicable and scalable production of Ca3Co4O9 for multilayer generators, a systematic study of the influence of powder calcination, Bi-doping, reaction sintering, and pressure-assisted sintering (PAS) on microstructure and thermoelectric properties is presented. Batches of doped, undoped, calcined, and not calcined powders were prepared, tape-cast, and sintered with and without uniaxial pressure at 900 °C. The resulting phase compositions, microstructures and thermoelectric properties were analysed. It is shown that the beneficial effect of Bi-doping observed on pressureless sintered samples cannot be transferred to PAS. Liquid phase formation induces distortions and abnormal grain growth. Although the Seebeck coefficient is increased to 139 µV/K by Bi-doping, the power factor is low due to poor electrical conductivity. The best results were achieved by PAS of calcined powder. The dense and textured microstructure exhibits a high power factor of 326 µW/mK² at 800 °C but adversely high thermal conductivity in the relevant direction. The figure of merit is higher than 0.08 at 700 °C. KW - Ceramics KW - Calcium cobaltite KW - Thermoelectric properties KW - Calcination KW - Pressure-assisted sintering PY - 2019 DO - https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5107476 SN - 0021-8979 VL - 126 IS - 7 SP - 075102-1 EP - 075102-11 PB - AIP Publishing CY - Melville AN - OPUS4-48708 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bresch, Sophie A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Moos, Ralf A1 - Rabe, Torsten T1 - Reaction sintering and sintering additives for cost-effective production of thermoelectric oxides N2 - Thermoelectric oxides attract much interest recently. Although their thermoelectric properties are inferior to non-oxides, they exhibit distinct advantages. Thermoelectric oxides are stable in air at higher temperatures, their raw materials are less toxic, and more abundant. To enhance attractivity of these materials for industrial applications, production costs need to be reduced. Conventionally, the legs of thermoelectric generators are sintered from green bodies of previously synthesized powder. Reaction-sintering is a fabrication method without a powder synthesis step, as the final phase is formed during the sintering from a raw material mixture. Moreover, the reduction of chemical potential during reaction-sintering is effective as an additional driving force for sintering. We show that reaction-sintering increases the densification of CaMnO3 (n-type, Sm doped). Consequently, the electrical conductivities improved by about 100 % leading to superior power factors (PF = 230 µW/mK² for CaMnO3). Another approach to reduce the production costs is to lower the sintering temperature by adding sinter additives. The addition of 4 wt% CuO to CaMnO3 lowers the sinter temperature from 1250 °C to 1050 °C. The achieved power factor PF = 264 µW/mK is more than two times higher as reported in literature for the same dopant. T2 - Virtual Conference on Thermoelectrics (VCT) CY - Online meeting DA - 21.07.2020 KW - Thermoelectrics KW - Reaction sintering KW - Sintering additives KW - Calcium manganate KW - Calcium cobaltite PY - 2020 AN - OPUS4-51070 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Schönauer-Kamin, Daniela A1 - Hetzel, K. A1 - Moos, R. A1 - Bresch, Sophie T1 - Powder-Aerosol deposited (PAD) calcium manganate as n-type thermoelectric material N2 - Currently, calcium manganate CaMnO3 and calcium cobaltite Ca3Co4O9 are being investigated as n-type resp. p-type semiconducting materials as oxidation- and temperature-resistant thermoelectric materials for oxide multilayer thermoelectric generators (TEGs). In order to manufacture multilayer TEGs, pressure-assisted sintering processes at high temperatures are necessary to achieve optimal thermoelectric material properties. To realize TEGs in planar film technology, another method to obtain dense ceramic layers directly from the synthesized starting powders without a subsequent high temperature step is emerging recently: the powder aerosol deposition (PAD) method. In the present work, it is investigated whether PAD is suitable to produce dense ceramic films from Sm-doped CaMnO3 and Ca3Co4O9 powders. The resulting thermoelectric properties are characterized as a function of temperature. CaMnO3 powder could successfully be processed by PAD with resulting layer thicknesses of 5- 6 µm without any high-temperature sintering steps of the films. The electrical conductivity and the Seebeck coefficient of the films were determined in-plane from room temperature to 600 °C in air. The results show a Seebeck coefficient of around -200 µV/K, which is comparable to results of pressed and sintered bars. At 400 °C, the electrical conductivity corresponds to the conductivity of the bar. At higher temperatures the conductivity is better than with the reference. Below 400°C, the electrical conductivity is somewhat lower than that of the reference sample, a mild thermal treatment of the PAD layer improves it. It is expected that the thermal conductivity of the PAD film will be lower compared to the bars due to the nano-crystalline film morphology. This should result in a significantly increased ZT value for the PAD layers and a higher efficiency of the TEG. The work shows that both CaMnO3 and Ca3Co4O9 can be successfully processed by PAD, and the PAD films show comparable thermoelectric properties. T2 - 18th European Conference on Thermoelectrics CY - Barcelona, Spanien DA - 14.09.2022 KW - Film depositition KW - Calcium cobaltite PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55771 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -