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Abstract:
Thermoelectric devices can help to tackle future challenges in the
energy sector through the conversion of waste heat directly into usable
electric energy. For a wide applicability low-cost materials with
reasonable thermoelectric performances and cost-efficient preparation
techniques are required. In this context metal oxides are an interesting
class of materials because of their inherenthigh-temperature stability
and relative high sustainability. Their thermoelectric performance,
however, needs to be improved for wide application. Compounds with
adaptive structures are a very interesting class of materials. A slight
reduction of early transition metal oxides generates electrons as charge
carriers and crystallographic shear planes as structure motif. The
crystallographic shear planes lead to a reduction of intrinsic thermal
conductivity. At the same time, the electronic transport properties can
be tuned by the degree of reduction. So far only a few transition metal
oxides with adaptive structures have been investigated with respect to
their thermoelectric properties, leaving much room for improvement. This
review gives an overview of thermoelectric oxides, highlights the
structural aspects of the crystallographic shear planes and the
resulting thermoelectric properties. (C) 2016 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH &
Co. KGaA, Weinheim
