Microstructure and transport properties of YBCO zone melted samples processed in a microwave cavity and infra-red furnace

Enhancement of Ca 3 Co 4 O 9 thermoelectric properties by Cr for Co substitution

“…Such processes should allow the alignment of the conducting planes leading to macroscopic properties comparable to those obtained on single crystals. Numerous methods have been reported to be efficient to produce well aligned bulk materials, in these or in similar anisotropic systems, such as hot uniaxial pressing [17], spark plasma sintering [18], microwave texturing [19], laser floating zone melting (LFZ) [20], templated grain growth (TGG) [21], etc. The main advantage of these techniques is the production of materials with very high electrical properties due to the preferential conducting plane alignment with the conduction direction.…”

“…On the other hand, they possess some drawbacks, as the high price of the spark plasma device and the relatively long processing time of the hot uniaxial pressing or the TGG. In the case of the processes involving samples melting, it has been reported that the electrical properties are strongly dependents on the growth speed [19,[22][23][24][25].…”

Influence of Ca substitution by Mg on the Ca₃Co₄O₉ performances

“…Such processes allow the alignment of the conducting planes producing macroscopic properties comparable to the obtained on single crystals, by decreasing electrical resistivity. Numerous methods have been reported to be efficient in producing well aligned bulk materials, in these or in similar anisotropic systems, such as hot uniaxial pressing [13], spark plasma sintering (SPS) [14], microwave texturing [15], laser floating zone melting (LFZ) [16,17], electrically asisted laser floating zone (EALFZ) [18,19], templated grain growth (TGG) [20], etc. The main advantage of these techniques is the production of materials with very low electrical resistivity values due to the preferential alignment of conducting planes with the current flow direction.…”

Effect of Ga addition on Ca-deficient Ca3Co4Oy thermoelectric materials

“…Numerous methods have been reported to be efficient to produce well aligned bulk materials, in these or in similar anisotropic systems, such as hot uniaxial pressing [15], templated grain growth (TGG) [16], spark plasma sintering [17], microwave texturing [18], laser floating zone melting (LFZ) [19], electrically assisted laser floating zone [20], etc. On the other hand, these methods possess some drawbacks due to different factors, as the relatively long treatments required for the first two ones, or the high costs associated with the equipment and the strong dependence of thermoelectric properties on the growth or the texturing speeds for the other ones [13,18,[21][22][23].…”

“…On the other hand, these methods possess some drawbacks due to different factors, as the relatively long treatments required for the first two ones, or the high costs associated with the equipment and the strong dependence of thermoelectric properties on the growth or the texturing speeds for the other ones [13,18,[21][22][23].…”