Thermoelectric Property in Multiferroics

Abstract

Thermoelectricity has gained special interest due to its potential applications, especially the advancements in the electronic devices with very low power consumption. Thermoelectric materials can be used to make energy conversion devices that generate power from thermal sources. Multiferroic oxides, in particular cobaltates, have been actively studied as a new type of thermoelectric material (1). The crystal structure of these cobaltates offers a possibility to manipulate Seebeck coefficient, electric conductivity, and thermal conductivity to optimize the figure of merit ZT. The theoretical explanation and experimental observations by some investigators proved the candidature of multiferroic materials for thermoelectric generation. Many semiconducting multiferroic oxides are showing spin dependent Seebeck coefficient (2-3). Moreover, most of these oxides are inherently stable at high temperatures in air, making them a suitable material for high temperature applications. In this work we have investigated the multiferroic and thermoelectric properties of thinfilms of doped cobalt oxide matrices. The observations confirmed that these materials are suitable for thermoelectric generation.