High Thermoelectric Performance of Metal-Substituted Samples of alpha-Fe2O3 and Computation of Their Electronic Structures by the DV-X alpha Method

摘要

We examined the effects of partial metal substitution on the electronic structure of alpha-Fe2O3, with the aim of improving its thermoelectric performance. By powder metallurgy, we prepared samples of (Fe-2,Li)(2)O-3 in which part of the Fe was replaced by Li, added in the form of LiF. The electronic structures of the materials were examined by the DV-X alpha method. The lithium-doped alpha-Fe2O3 is a promising thermoelectric semiconductor with a thermoelectric power of -411 mu V/K, a resistivity of 3 x 10(-4) Omega m, and a thermal conductivity of 4 W/m K. The figure of merit is 0.13 x 10(-3) at 870 K, which is superior to that of TiO2-Containing Fe2O3 (0.04 x 10(-3)).