Functionally Graded Electrode Materials for Thermoelectric Devices

Abstract:

The electrodes for solar thermoelectric modules require high thermal conductivity in the thickness direction and high electrical conductivity in the plane direction; but the whole electrode must be electrically insulated in the thickness direction. To meet such requirements, two material systems of TiB2/AlN/Cu and Cu/AlN/Cu with AlN as a middle layer were designed and studied, because AlN has high thermal conductivity and electrical resistance. The TiB2/AlN/Cu FGMs were fabricated via spark plasma sintering (SPS) method, in which a temperature gradient was achieved by using a specially designed mold. The Cu/AlN/Cu symmetrical FGMs were fabricated by an infiltration-like process using a symmetrical porosity-graded AlN plate as a preform.

• Periodical: Advances in Science and Technology (Volume 45)
• Pages: 1134-1138
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.4028/www.scientific.net/AST.45.1134
• Online since: October 2006
• Authors: Jing Feng Li, Huai Quan Zhang
• Keywords: Electrode Material, Functionally Graded Material (FGM), Spark Plasma Sintering (SPS)

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