The potential of thermoelectric materials to generate electricity from the waste heat can play a key role in achieving a global sustainable energy future. In order to proceed in this direction, it is essential to have thermoelectric materials that are environmentally friendly and exhibit high figure of merit, ZT. Oxide thermoelectric materials are considered ideal for such applications. High thermoelectric performance has been reported in single crystals of Ca3Co4O9. However, for large scale applications single crystals are not suitable and it is essential to develop high-performance polycrystalline thermoelectric materials. In polycrystalline form, Ca3Co4O9 is known to exhibit much weaker thermoelectric response than in single crystal form. Here, we report the observation of enhanced thermoelectric response in polycrystalline Ca3Co4O9 on doping Tb ions in the material. Polycrystalline Ca3−xTbxCo4O9 (x = 0.0–0.7) samples were prepared by a solid-state reaction technique. Samples were thoroughly characterized using several state of the art techniques including XRD, TEM, SEM and XPS. Temperature dependent Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity and thermal conductivity measurements were performed. A record ZT of 0.74 at 800 K was observed for Tb doped Ca3Co4O9 which is the highest value observed till date in any polycrystalline sample of this system.

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Recent advances in device design and process optimizations have enabled the production of CdTe devices on flexible substrates, but the necessary high-temperature processing (> 450 °C) to recrystallize grains limits the use of alternative lightweight substrates. Here, we report a new synthesis method to create a freestanding CdS/CdTe film by combining hightemperature depositions (CdS/CdTe on Si/SiO 2 ) and a simple lift-off process in a water environment at room temperature. Analysis of the results indicate that the delamination is facilitated by the innate lattice mismatch as well as the presence of an unexpected Te-rich layer (≈ 20 nm), which accumulates on the SiO 2 surface. High-resolution electron microscopy and spectroscopy measurements confirm that the CdS/CdTe film is physically liberated from the substrate without leaving any residue, while also preserving their initial structural and compositional properties.

Recent progress achieved in metal-assisted chemical etching (MACE) has enabled the production of high-quality micropillar arrays for various optoelectronic applications. Si micropillars produced by MACE often show a porous Si/SiOx shell on crystalline pillar cores introduced by local electrochemical reactions. In this paper, we report the distinct optoelectronic characteristics of the porous Si/SiOx shell correlated to their chemical compositions. Local photoluminescent (PL) images obtained with an immersion oil objective lens in confocal microscopy show a red emission peak (≈ 650 nm) along the perimeter of the pillars that is threefold stronger compared to their center. On the basis of our analysis, we find an unexpected PL increase (≈ 540 nm) at the oil/shell interface. We suggest that both PL enhancements are mainly attributed to the porous structures, a similar behavior observed in previous MACE studies. Surface potential maps simultaneously recorded with topography reveal a significantly high surface potential on the sidewalls of MACE-synthesized pillars (+ 0.5 V), which is restored to the level of planar Si control (− 0.5 V) after removing SiOx in hydrofluoric acid. These distinct optoelectronic characteristics of the Si/SiOx shell can be beneficial for various sensor architectures.

Development of thermoelectric energy harvesting devices has hit a stumbling block due to the intrinsically linked electrical and thermal conductivities of materials. However, this field can still be improved by employing devices that take advantage of spin-based effects. A temperature gradient can be converted to a spin-polarized current in a ferrimagnetic insulator by the spin Seebeck effect (SSE), and that spin current can be converted to an electrical voltage in a heavy metal by the Inverse spin Hall effect (ISHE). Thus, the thermal energy capture and charge production steps can be separated into two distinct regions of the thermoelectric device, allowing separate tuning of electrical and thermal conductivities. The second step of this process, spin current to electrical voltage conversion, is controlled by the strength and sign of ISHE in the metal, and platinum has become the standard for this purpose. However, here we report a better candidate, β-Tantalum, which shows a spin Seebeck voltage approximately 4 times higher than that of Pt at room temperature. The temperature dependence of spin Seebeck in YIG/β-Ta also closely follows that of YIG/Pt, consistent with magnon spin current theory. The sign of the spin Seebeck voltage in Ta found to be opposite to that of Pt, making the two materials highly complementary for fabricating spintronics-based thermoelectric modules for practical applications.