TY - JOUR A1 - Bresch, Sophie A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Selleng, Christian A1 - Stöcker, T. A1 - Moos, R. A1 - Rabe, Torsten T1 - Influence of the calcination procedure on the thermoelectric properties of calcium cobaltite Ca3Co4O9 N2 - Calcium cobaltite is one of the most promising oxide p-type thermoelectric materials. The solid-state reaction (or calcination, respectively), which is well known for large-scale powder synthesis of functional materials, can also be used for the synthesis of thermoelectric oxides. There are various calcination routines in literature for Ca3Co4O9 powder synthesis, but no systematic study has been done on the influence of calcination procedure on thermoelectric properties. Therefore, the influence of calcination conditions on the Seebeck coefficient and the electrical conductivity was studied by modifying calcination temperature, dwell time, particle size of raw materials and number of calcination cycles. This study shows that elevated temperatures, longer dwell times, or repeated calcinations during powder synthesis do not improve but deteriorate the thermoelectric properties of calcium cobaltite. Diffusion during calcination leads to idiomorphic grain growth, which lowers the driving force for sintering of the calcined powder. A lower driving force for sintering reduces the densification. The electrical conductivity increases linearly with densification. The calcination procedure barely influences the Seebeck coefficient. The calcination procedure has no influence on the phase formation of the sintered specimens. KW - Thermoelectrics KW - Calcination KW - Calcium Cobaltite KW - Solid-State-Synthesis KW - Reaction-sintering PY - 2018 U6 - https://doi.org/10.1007/s10832-018-0124-3 SN - 1385-3449 SN - 1573-8663 VL - 40 IS - 3 SP - 225 EP - 234 PB - Springer AN - OPUS4-44336 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bresch, Sophie A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Stargardt, Patrick A1 - Töpfer, Jörg A1 - Moos, Ralf A1 - Rabe, Torsten T1 - Development of textured multilayer thermoelectric generators based on calcium cobaltite N2 - Thermoelectric generators can be used as energy harvesters for sensor applications. Multilayer thermoelectric generators (ML-TEGs) are a promising alternative to conventional π-type generators due to their high filling factor, high capability of automated production and the texturing potential during the production process. Calcium cobaltite is a promising thermoelectric oxide (p-type) with highly anisotropic properties. The following study shows the development of a textured unileg ML-TEG using ceramic multilayer technology. Tape-casting and pressure assisted sintering are applied to fabricate textured calcium cobaltite. Compared to conventional sintering, pressure assisted sintering increases the strength by the factor 10. Thermoelectric properties can be tuned either towards maximum power factor or towards maximum figure of merit depending on the pressure level. As electrical insulation material, a screen-printable glass-ceramic with high resistivity and adapted coefficient of thermal expansion is developed. From various commercial pastes a metallization with low contact resistance is chosen. The unileg ML-TEG is co-fired in one single step. The demonstrators reach 80% of the simulated output power and the power output is highly reproducible between the different demonstrators (99%). These results provide the first proof-of-concept for fabricating co-fired multilayer generators based on textured calcium cobaltite with high power factor, high density, and high strength. T2 - Virtual Conference on Thermoelectrics 2021 (VCT) CY - Online meeting DA - 20.07.2021 KW - Thermoelectrics KW - Multilayertechnik KW - Screen printing PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-52993 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bresch, Sophie A1 - Stargardt, Patrick A1 - Töpfer, Jörg A1 - Moos, Ralf A1 - Mieller, Björn T1 - Thermoelectric multilayer generators: development from oxide powder to demonstrator N2 - Thermoelectric generators can be used for energy harvesting by directly transforming a temperature gradient into a voltage. Multilayer generators based on ceramic multilayer technology are an interesting alternative to conventional π-type generators. They exhibit several advantages like high filling factor, possibility of texturing, co-firing of all materials in one single-step, and reduction of production costs due to the high possible degree of automation. But, co-firing of promising oxide thermoelectric materials, Ca3Co4O9 (p-type) and CaMnO3 (n-type), is very challenging due to the large difference in sintering temperature (300 K). In this work we show the material development of Ca3Co4O9, CaMnO3, and insulation for multilayer generators co-fired under uniaxial pressure at 900 °C. The materials are tailored regarding their sintering behavior, electrical performance and coefficients of thermal expansion. Tape-casting and pressure assisted sintering are applied to fabricate textured Ca3Co4O9. Compared to conventional sintering, pressure assisted sintering increases the strength by the factor 10 and the power factor by the factor of 20. The combination of sintering additives and uniaxial pressure is used to decrease the sintering temperature of CaMnO3 to 900 °C while maintaining acceptable thermoelectric properties. Different generator designs (unileg and pn-type) were fabricated and analyzed regarding microstructure and thermoelectric performance. A lower level of complexity is beneficial for co-firing and performance. The unileg demonstrators reach 80% of the simulated output power and the power output is highly reproducible between the different demonstrators (99%). T2 - Ceramics in Europe 2022 CY - Krakow, Poland DA - 10.07.2022 KW - Thermoelectrics KW - Multilayer technology KW - Co-firing KW - Texture PY - 2022 AN - OPUS4-55357 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bresch, Sophie A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Moos, R. A1 - Rabe, Torsten T1 - Lowering the sintering temperature of calcium manganate CaMnO3 for thermoelectric applications N2 - Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat directly into electrical power by utilizing the Seebeck effect. Calcium cobaltite (p-type) and calcium manganate (n-type) are two of the most promising oxide thermoelectric materials. The development of cost-effective multilayer thermoelectric generators requires the co-firing of these materials and therefore the adjustment of sintering temperatures. Calcium manganate is conventionally sintered between 1200 °C and 1350 °C. Calcium cobaltite exhibits an undesired phase transition at 926 °C but can be sintered to high relative density of 95 % at 900 °C under axial pressure of 7.5 MPa. Hence, co-firing at 900 °C would be favourable. Therefore, strategies for lowering the sintering temperature of calcium manganate have been investigated. Basically, two approaches are common: i) addition of low melting additives like Bi2O3-ZnO-B2O3-SiO2 (BBSZ) glass or Bi2O3, and ii) addition of additives that form low-melting eutectics with the base material, for example CuO. In this study, several low melting additives including BBSZ glass and Bi2O3, as well as CuO were tested regarding their effect on calcium manganate densification. Bi2O3 did not improve the densification, whereas BBSZ glass led to 10 % higher relative density at 1200 °C. An addition of 4 wt% CuO decreases the temperature of maximum sinter rate from above 1200 °C to 1040 °C. By reducing the particle size of the raw materials from 2 μm to 0.7 μm the maximum sinter rate could be further shifted 20 K towards lower temperatures and the sinter begin decreased from 920 °C to 740 °C. It is shown that eutectic phase formation is more effective in lowering sintering temperature and accelerating densification than low-melting additives. T2 - 93. DKG-Jahrestagung und Symposium Hochleistungskeramik 2018 CY - Munich, Germany DA - 10.04.2018 KW - Thermoelectrics KW - Sinter additive PY - 2018 AN - OPUS4-44818 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 - Bresch, Sophie A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Moos, Ralf A1 - Rabe, Torsten T1 - Improved thermoelectric properties of CaMnO3 and Ca3Co4O9 by increasing the driving force for sintering N2 - Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat directly into electrical power by utilizing the Seebeck effect. Calcium cobaltite (Ca3Co4O9, p-type) and calcium manganate (CaMnO3, n-type) are two of the most promising oxide thermoelectric materials. The performance of these materials is evaluated by the power factor PF = S²∙σ and the figure of merit ZT = (PF ∙ T) / κ, demanding high Seebeck coefficient S, high electrical conductivity σ and low thermal conductivity κ. The latter two are increasing with increasing relative sinter density. According to theory, the relative density of ceramics can be improved by increasing the driving force for sintering. This study investigates different approaches to increase the driving force for sintering of Ca3Co4O9 and CaMnO3 to improve densities and thermoelectric properties. The following approaches were applied: minimizing the energy input during powder synthesis by calcination, fine milling of the powder, using reaction-sintering without a powder synthesis step, and adding a transient liquid phase by sinter additives. All different approaches led to an increased densification and thus higher electrical conductivity and higher PF. Thermal conductivity increased as well but not to the same extent. E.g. reaction-sintering increased the densification of Ca3Co4O9 (p-type) and CaMnO3 (n-type). Consequently, the electrical conductivities improved by about 100 % for both oxides leading to superior power factors (PF = 230 µW/mK² for CaMnO3). Although the thermal conductivity increased as well by 8 %, the figures of merit (ZT) were significantly higher compared to conventionally sintered bars. The addition of 4 wt% CuO as a sinter additive to CaMnO3 lowers the sinter temperature from above 1250 °C to below 1100 °C and increases the relative density. Due to the increased density, both electrical conductivity and PF increased by more than 200 % even though the sintering temperature was 150 K lower. T2 - Electroceramics XVII CY - Online meeting DA - 24.08.2020 KW - Thermoelectrics KW - Reaction sintering KW - Sintering additives PY - 2020 AN - OPUS4-51163 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bresch, Sophie A1 - Stargardt, Patrick A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Moos, Ralf A1 - Rabe, Torsten T1 - Material development for oxide multilayer generators N2 - Thermoelectric generators can be used for energy harvesting by directly transforming a temperature gradient into a voltage. Multilayer generators based on low-temperature co-fired ceramics technology (LTCC) are an interesting alternative to conventional π-type generators. They exhibit several advantages like high filling factor, possibility of texturing, co-firing of all materials in one single-step, and reduction of production costs due to the high possible degree of automation. Pressure-assisted sintering enables the theoretical possibility of co-firing two promising oxide thermoelectric materials: Ca3Co4O9 (p-type) and CaMnO3 (n-type). Due to the large difference in sintering temperature (300 K) the process is very challenging. In this work we show the material development of Ca3Co4O9, CaMnO3, insulation and metallization for multilayer generators co-fired under pressure at 900 °C. The materials are tailored regarding their sintering behavior, electrical performance and coefficients of thermal expansion. Different generator designs (unileg and pn-type) were fabricated and analyzed regarding crack formation, interaction layers and thermoelectric performance. Simulated stresses during cooling in the multilayers are compared with actual crack formation for different sintering conditions. This study shows that a lower pressure level and a lower level of complexity are beneficial for co-firing and performance. T2 - 45th International Conference and Expo on Advanced Ceramics and Composites (ICACC 2021 Virtual) CY - Online meeting DA - 08.02.2021 KW - Thermoelectrics KW - Multilayer PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-52462 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER - TY - CONF A1 - Bresch, Sophie A1 - Mieller, Björn A1 - Reimann, T. A1 - Moos, R. A1 - Rabe, Torsten T1 - Texturing of calcium cobaltite for thermoelectric applications by pressure assisted sintering N2 - Thermoelectric materials can convert waste heat directly into electrical power by using the Seebeck effect. Calcium cobaltite (CCO) is considered as a promising thermoelectric p-type oxide for energy harvesting applications at temperatures above 500 °C. The properties and morphology of single-crystal CCO are strongly anisotropic because of its crystal structure of alternating layers of CoO2 and Ca2CoO3. By aligning the plate-like grains, the anisotropic properties of the grains can be assigned to the poly-crystalline parts. In this study, the combination of tape casting and pressure-assisted sintering is used to texture and densify large scale components (50 cm²). Thereby, the influence of powder preparation and applied pressure during sintering on texturing and thermoelectric properties is investigated. The analysis of XRD pole figures revealed that tape casting already leads to highly textured CCO. By pressure variation during sintering, the microstructure of CCO can be tailored either toward maximum power factor as required for energy harvesting or toward maximum figure of merit as required for energy recovery. Low pressure lead to a porous microstructure and maximum figure of merit and higher pressure to full densification and maximum power factor. The electrical and thermal conductivity of CCO seem depending on both texture and sinter density. T2 - KERAMIK 2021 / CERAMICS 2021 CY - Online meeting DA - 19.04.2021 KW - Thermoelectrics KW - Hot pressing KW - Pole figures PY - 2021 AN - OPUS4-52490 LA - eng AD - Bundesanstalt fuer Materialforschung und -pruefung (BAM), Berlin, Germany ER -