High-temperature thermoelectric properties of Na(Co0.91, Ni0.09)2O4 fabricated by solution combustion method for power generation

High-quality nano-sized Na(Co0.91Ni0.09)2O4 powders, i.e., 27 nm in average size, were synthesized by the solution combustion route. The magnitude of the electrical conductivity, the Seebeck coefficient, and the power factor for Na(Co0.91Ni0.09)2O4 depended strongly on the fuel used and followed the order of aspartic acid > glutamic acid > alanine > glycine. The order of the thermoelectric characteristics was consistent with that of the density of Na(Co0.91Ni0.09)2O4. The maximal power factor (1.06 x 10(-3) Wm(-1) K(-2)) was achieved for aspartic acid-processed Na(Co0.91 Ni0.09)2O4 twice-sintered at 800 degrees C. We believe that the solution combustion route was highly effective for fabricating high-efficiency thermoelectric materials.