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C1: Waste heat recovery

Thermal Annealing Effects on the Thermoelectric and Optical Properties of SiO2/SiO2+Cu Nanolayered Thin Films

S. Budak1, M. Baker1, J. Lassiter2, C. Smith3, R. B. Johnson2
1EECS,AAMU, Huntsville, AL USA; 2Physics, AAMU, Huntsville, AL USA; 3Center for Irradiation of Materials, AAMU, Huntsville, AL USA

Thermoelectric generator devices were prepared from 36 alternating layers of SiO2/SiO2+Cu superlattice films using Magnetron DC/RF Sputtering. AFM has been used to analyze the surface of the thin films. The SiO2/SiO2+Cu samples were annealed at temperatures ranging from 500 to 700 °C in air for 1 hour, to form quantum dots and/ or clusters in the multilayer superlattice thin films to tailor the thermoelectric and optical properties of the thin film systems. The synthesized nanomaterial samples were characterized with UV-Vis-NIR Optical Absorption, Florescence, and Raman spectroscopies, Seebeck coefficients measurement systems.

 Keywords: Thermoelectric properties, multi-nanolayers, figure of merit.

*Corresponding author:

S. Budak; Tel.: 256-372-5894; Fax: 256-372-5855; Email: satilmis.budak@aamu.edu

Acknowledgement

Research sponsored by the Center for Irradiation of Materials (CIM),  National Science Foundation under NSF-EPSCOR R-II-3 Grant No. EPS-1158862, DOD under Nanotechnology Infrastructure Development for Education and Research through the Army Research Office # W911 NF-08-1-0425, and DOD Army Research Office # W911 NF-12-1-0063 and National Nuclear Security Admin (DOE/NNSA/MB-40) with grant# DE-NA0001896, NSF-REU with Award#1156137.