Fabrication and thermoelectric properties of Al-doped (ZnO)5In2O3 by microwave heating

Various (ZnO)(5)In2O3 ceramics were fabricated by microwave heating. Density, XRD pattern and microstructure were examined, and those of the Al-doped (ZnO)(5)In2O3 were almost the same as Al-free one. The highly textured (ZnO)(5)In2O3 ceramic was also fabricated by reactive templated grain growth (RTGG) method. The electrical conductivity was not improved by Al-doping; however it was improved slightly by microwave heating compared with conventional heating and especially improved by texturing using RTGG method. On the other hand, the absolute Seebeck coefficient in microwave heating was improved about 25% by Al-doping. The maximum electric power factor of a textured specimen fabricated by RTGG method along the ab-plane showed 5.76x10(-4) WK(-2)m(-1) (at 873K), which was attributed to high electrical conductivity.