Cold sintering and co‐firing of a multilayer device with thermoelectric materials. Issue 8 (21st April 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Funahashi, Shuichi; Guo, Hanzheng; Guo, Jing; Baker, Amanda L.; Wang, Ke; Shiratsuyu, Kosuke; Randall, Clive A.
• Is Part Of: Journal of the American Ceramic Society. Volume 100:Issue 8(2017)
• Page Start: 3488
• Page End: 3496
• Publication Date: 2017-04-21
• Subjects: composites -- multilayers -- sinter/sintering -- thermoelectric properties; Ceramics -- Periodicals; 620.1405
• DOI: 10.1111/jace.14852
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0002-7820

Abstract

Abstract: Cold‐sintered ZnO and Ca3 Co4 O9 polycrystalline materials were shown to have thermoelectric properties comparable to those of conventionally sintered ceramics. Extending these processing conditions into a cold sintering co‐fired ceramic (CSCC) technology, we integrated n ‐type and p ‐type thermoelectric oxides and a separating insulating layer to demonstrate functional multilayer thermoelectric generator devices. A co‐fired structure with an insulating 8 mol% yttria‐stabilized zirconia (8YSZ) layer enabled multilayer thermoelectric generators (TEG) to be fabricated with a 5 n‐p junction device (20 layers). A transmission electron microscopy analysis of the interfaces between the various materials under the co‐firing cold sintering showed some interdiffusion of chemical constitutes in a 2.0 μm interface region between the respective ceramic phases. The co‐firing of multilayer ceramic and polymer structures were also shown to be possible using insulation layers of polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) thermoplastic layers. This demonstrated the feasibility of a single‐step process for new structures with both ceramics and polymers, opening up new directions for many new device designs.