Thermoelectric properties of porous SiC/C composites

Masashi Fujisawa, Toshimitsu Hata, Hiroyuki Kitagawa, Paul Bronsveld, Youki Suzuki, Kazuhiro Hasezaki, Yasutoshi Noda and Yuji Imamura

Renewable Energy, 2008, vol. 33, issue 2, 309-313

Abstract: We developed a porous SiC/C composite by oxidizing a SiC/C composite made from a mixed powder of wood charcoal and SiO2 (32–45μm) by pulse current sintering at 1600 and 1800°C under a N2 atmosphere. The microstructures of the porous SiC/C composites with oxidation and the SiC/C composites without oxidation were analyzed by Raman spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Raman spectra revealed the disappearance of excess carbon and the presence of β-SiC. The porous microstructure was monitored by SEM observation as a function of the heat treatment temperature. The thermoelectric properties of porous SiC/C composites with oxidation and SiC/C composites without oxidation were investigated by measuring the Seebeck coefficient, the electrical conductivity and thermal conductivity. The Seebeck coefficient of all samples revealed n-type conduction, and the absolute value of the Seebeck coefficient for the porous SiC/C samples with oxidation was much larger than that for the SiC/C samples without oxidation. For the electrical conductivity the reverse is true. Only the thermal conductivity of the SiC/C sample heated to 1800°C without oxidation was high initially and stayed rather high. In general, the thermoelectric properties improved at higher measurement temperatures indicating their suitability for high-temperature thermoelectric conversion. A maximum figure of merit of 2.01×10−5K−1 was obtained at 700°C in porous SiC/C samples sintered at 1800°C with oxidation.

Keywords: Thermoelectric properties; SiC; Carbon (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:renene:v:33:y:2008:i:2:p:309-313

DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2007.07.010

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