Study of transition metal oxides for thermoelectric applications using plasma spray additive manufacturing

Transition metal oxides (TMO) are potential candidates for thermoelectric (TE) applications. Thermal spray (TS) stands out as a feasible process route, enabling the processing of these high temperature materials under either reducing or oxidizing environment, and thus providing in-situ reactions and control of the oxide stoichiometry. Recent studies have shown reasonable thermoelectric properties in in-situ synthesized sub-stoichiometric TiO₂ producing an n-type TE material. In this study additional oxides with potential p-type response to enable fabrication of p-n junctions and resultant thermoelectric devices are approached. In addition, multilayer strategy along with patterning is invoked using the unique capabilities of plasma spray to assemble thermoelectric system which can directly be applied on heat engine components for waste heat power harvesting.