This dissertation is centered on investigation of metastable thermoelectric thin film materials and is split into 3 primary sections. Section 1 focuses on formation mechanisms of FeSbx compounds from layered precursors. It was found that a compositionally favorable and homogeneous nucleation environment allowed for the nucleation of a metastable phase, which surprisingly resembles the local coordination environment of the precursors, even in cases where they are compositionally unfavorable. Over the course of this work, the technique of normal-incidence thin film pair distribution function analysis is introduced, which allows for rapid acquisition and analysis of local structure data from intact thin films.
Section 2 investigates changes in the stacking sequences of ([PbSe]1+δ)m(TiSe2)n nanolaminate materials, which consist of interleaved layers of each compound in the chemical formula, and how these changes effect the thermoelectric power factor. Homologous series of systematically varying m and n values are investigated and measured properties are correlated back to the designed nanoarchitecture of the laminate materials. It is found that the compounds are stabilized by electron exchange between constituents at the interfaces, and that ‘doping’ of the laminate structure by changing the relative amounts of each constituent is an effective means of optimizing their transport properties. It is also shown that interface density between constituents can be utilized to optimize performance.
Section 3 moves from the case of PbSe layers, which maintain their structure, to SnSe layers that significantly distort as the layer size is changed. The distortions in SnSe are observed to occur from templating off TiSe2 layers. As the size of the SnSe layers increases, relatively fewer templated interfacial atoms exist and stabilization of interior atoms must also be considered. The coarse behaviors developed in ([PbSe]1+δ)m(TiSe2)n hold, but the structural distortions in SnSe likely change the band structure of this constituent and hence the composite material, complicating the analysis. In some cases, these changes allow for radically different behavior, best exemplified with high TiSe2 ratios in ([SnSe]1+δ)1(TiSe2)n displaying significant enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient at cryogenic temperatures over the low-n and PbSe-containing analogues.
This dissertation includes previously published and unpublished coauthored material.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uoregon.edu/oai:scholarsbank.uoregon.edu:1794/22264 |
| Date | 01 May 2017 |
| Creators | Bauers, Sage |
| Contributors | Johnson, David |
| Publisher | University of Oregon |
| Source Sets | University of Oregon |
| Language | en_US |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Rights | All Rights Reserved. |
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