| Abstract Scope |
Challenges in oxide thermoelectrics are manifold as figure-of-merit, ZT values of oxides suffer from lower electrical conductivity as well as relatively higher thermal conductivity compared to intermetallics and chalcogenides. Especially, achieving ZT>1 remained elusive for bulk oxide thermoelectrics. Electrons in oxide perovskites suffer from Anderson’s localization due to the presence of multi-valent transition metals and point defects giving rise to variation in local electric field and strain. Recently, we have posited a strategy of boosting the electron transport by manipulating semiconductor to metal transition temperature in donor doped SrTiO3 by synthesizing nanocomposites with graphene oxide (GO), graphite (G) and MXene. Presence of these inclusions in perovskite matrix provide high momentum electrons and impart enough strain to facilitate these localized electrons to attain the itinerant state. As a result, we could achieve single-crystal like electron mobility in ceramic nanocomposites. Thus, we reported the first experimental demonstration of ZT>1 in oxide thermoelectrics. |