Effect of Nb doping on microstructures and thermoelectric properties of SrTiO_3 ceramics

Nb-doped SrTiO_3 thermoelectric ceramics with different niobium concentrations,sintering temperatures and Sr-site vacancies are successfully prepared by high energy ball milling combined with carbon burial sintering.For fully understanding the effect of niobium doping on SrTiO_3,thermoelectric transport properties are systematically investigated in a temperature range from 300 K to 1100 K.The carrier mobility can be significantly enhanced,and the electrical conductivity is quadrupled,when the sintering temperature rises from 1673 K to 1773 K(beyond the eutectic temperature(1713 K) of SrTiO_3–TiO_2).The lattice vibration can be suppressed by the lattice distortion introduced by the doped niobium atoms.However,Sr-site vacancies compensate for the lattice distortion and increase the lattice thermal conductivity more or less.Finally,we achieve a maximum value of figure-of-merit z T of 0.21 at 1100 K for Sr Ti_(0.9)Nb_(0.1)O_3 ceramic sintered at1773 K.