Ultralow thermal conductivity and improved thermoelectric properties of Al-doped ZnO by In Situ O2 plasma treatment
Ultralow thermal conductivity and improved thermoelectric properties of Al-doped ZnO by In Situ O2 plasma treatment
The thriving of Internet-of-Things and integrated wireless sensor networks has brought an unprecedented demand for sustainable micro-Watt-scale power supplies. Development of high-performing micro-thermoelectric generator (μ-TEG) that can convert waste thermal energy into electricity and provide sustainable micro-Watt-scale power is therefore extremely timely and important. Herein, a significant advance in the development of earth-abundant, nontoxic thermoelectric materials of aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is presented. Through nanostructure engineering using a novel in situ O2 plasma treatment, AZO films are demonstrated with ultralow thermal conductivity of 0.16 W m-1 K-1 which is the lowest reported in the literature. This nanostructured film yields a power factor of 294 μW m-1K-2 at 563 K and has resulted in a state-of-the-art ZT of 0.11 at room temperature and 0.72 at 563 K for AZO thin films. Furthermore, the fabrication and testing of a prototype lateral μ-TEG are reported based on the AZO thin film which achieves a power output of 1.08 nW with an applied temperature difference of 16.9 °C.
O-2 plasma treatment, aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), micro-thermoelectric generators, thermal conductivity, thermoelectrics, O plasma treatment
Sethi, Vikesh
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Sun, Kai
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Newbrook, Daniel
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Runacres, Danielle
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Zhang, Tongjun
4a460cd9-f2c8-41db-8008-1cda74895b24
Greenacre, Victoria
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De Groot, Kees
92cd2e02-fcc4-43da-8816-c86f966be90c
Huang, Ruomeng
c6187811-ef2f-4437-8333-595c0d6ac978
Sethi, Vikesh
e0c3adf8-b928-46c4-b59f-4428cafe7774
Sun, Kai
b7c648a3-7be8-4613-9d4d-1bf937fb487b
Newbrook, Daniel
8eb26553-e1e2-492d-ad78-ce51a487f31f
Runacres, Danielle
aae55f94-b99a-4e9f-9d1b-8bcd3f2a93b6
Zhang, Tongjun
4a460cd9-f2c8-41db-8008-1cda74895b24
Greenacre, Victoria
c665a38b-0b1a-4671-ac75-bf0679dd1c57
De Groot, Kees
92cd2e02-fcc4-43da-8816-c86f966be90c
Huang, Ruomeng
c6187811-ef2f-4437-8333-595c0d6ac978
Sethi, Vikesh, Sun, Kai, Newbrook, Daniel, Runacres, Danielle, Zhang, Tongjun, Greenacre, Victoria, De Groot, Kees and Huang, Ruomeng
(2023)
Ultralow thermal conductivity and improved thermoelectric properties of Al-doped ZnO by In Situ O2 plasma treatment.
Small Structures, 4 (11), [2300140].
(doi:10.1002/sstr.202300140).
Abstract
The thriving of Internet-of-Things and integrated wireless sensor networks has brought an unprecedented demand for sustainable micro-Watt-scale power supplies. Development of high-performing micro-thermoelectric generator (μ-TEG) that can convert waste thermal energy into electricity and provide sustainable micro-Watt-scale power is therefore extremely timely and important. Herein, a significant advance in the development of earth-abundant, nontoxic thermoelectric materials of aluminium-doped zinc oxide (AZO) is presented. Through nanostructure engineering using a novel in situ O2 plasma treatment, AZO films are demonstrated with ultralow thermal conductivity of 0.16 W m-1 K-1 which is the lowest reported in the literature. This nanostructured film yields a power factor of 294 μW m-1K-2 at 563 K and has resulted in a state-of-the-art ZT of 0.11 at room temperature and 0.72 at 563 K for AZO thin films. Furthermore, the fabrication and testing of a prototype lateral μ-TEG are reported based on the AZO thin film which achieves a power output of 1.08 nW with an applied temperature difference of 16.9 °C.
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Small Structures - 2023 - Sethi - Ultralow Thermal Conductivity and Improved Thermoelectric Properties of Al‐Doped ZnO by
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Accepted/In Press date: 17 July 2023
e-pub ahead of print date: 20 July 2023
Additional Information:
Funding Information:
The authors thank the ADEPT project funded by a Programme Grant from the EPSRC (EP/N035437/1). V.S. would like to thank the EPSRC DTP studentship (EP/R513325/1). The authors also gratefully acknowledge funding for thin film diffraction and NMR instrumentation from the EPSRC through EP/K00509X, EP/K009877/1, and EP/K039466/1. All data supporting this study are openly available from the University of Southampton repository at DOI: https://doi.org/10.5258/SOTON/D2674.
Keywords:
O-2 plasma treatment, aluminum-doped zinc oxide (AZO), micro-thermoelectric generators, thermal conductivity, thermoelectrics, O plasma treatment
Identifiers
Local EPrints ID: 479795
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/479795
ISSN: 2688-4062
PURE UUID: ea1f4e2f-a924-431f-a2ee-31817bd61193
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Date deposited: 26 Jul 2023 17:06
Last modified: 10 Apr 2024 02:07
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