Effect of dual doping by rare-earth and sodium ions on thermoelectric properties of CaMnO3 ceramics

The effects of dual doping by trivalent and monovalent cations on the thermoelectric properties of CaMnO3_ currency ceramics were investigated. Na+ was selected as the monovalent cation, while three rare-earth (R) trivalent cations of La3+, Gd3+, and Dy3+ were used to study the role of their size and mass in the electrical and thermal transport properties. Dense ceramic samples with a nominal composition Ca1_x(R1/2Na1/2)xMnO3 (x = 0.1, 0.2, and 0.3) were fabricated via the conventional solid-state reaction route. Due to the partial evaporation of Na during sintering, the electrical conductivity increased and the Seebeck coefficient decreased with the doping level. Additionally, the dual doping by Na and R ions effectively decreased the thermal conductivity. The comparison of the thermoelectric properties of the samples demonstrated that a smaller and heavier R ion is more effective to obtain a high thermoelectric power factor and a low thermal conductivity. As a result, the sample with R = Dy and x = 0.1 possessed a high dimensionless figure-of-merit (ZT) of 0.11 at 1000 K. (c) 2022 The Ceramic Society of Japan. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

The effects of dual doping by trivalent and monovalent cations on the thermoelectric properties of CaMnO3 ceramics were investigated. It was found that dual doping of Na and R ions effectively decreased the thermal conductivity, and smaller and heavier R ions were more effective in obtaining a high thermoelectric power factor and a low thermal conductivity.