Ingenieurwissenschaften und zugeordnete Tätigkeiten
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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%).
Next-generation thermal management requires the development of low lattice thermal conductivity materials, as observed in ionic conductors. For example, thermoelectric efficiency is increased when thermal conductivity is decreased. Detrimentally, high ionic conductivity leads to thermoelectric device degradation. Battery safety and design also require an understanding of thermal transport in ionic conductors. Ion mobility, structural complexity, and anharmonicity have been used to explain the thermal transport properties of ionic conductors. However, thermal and ionic transport are rarely discussed in direct comparison. Herein, the ionic conductivity of Ag+ argyrodites is found to change by orders of magnitude without altering the thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity measurements and two-channel lattice dynamics modeling reveal that the majority of Ag+ vibrations have a non-propagating diffuson-like character, similar to amorphous materials. It is found that high ionic mobility is not a requirement for diffuson-mediated transport. Instead, the same bonding and structural traits that can lead to fast ionic conduction also lead to diffuson-mediated transport. Bridging the fields of solid-state ionics and thermal transport, it is proposed that a vibrational perspective can lead to new design strategies for functional ionic conducting materials. As a first step, the authors relate the so-called Meyer-Neldel behavior in ionic conductors to phonon occupations.