Transport properties of thermoelectric SrTiO3 synthesized by polymerized complex method and spark plasma sintering

The establishment of rapid synthesis process at a low temperature of thermoelectric non-doped and Y-doped SrTiO3 was tried by using the polymerized complex process and the spark plasma sintering method with addition of TiB2 powder. During the sintering, any reaction between SrTiO3 phase and TiB2 powder did not occur, resulting in the formation of Sr1-xYxTiO3/TiB2 composites. The TiB2 addition was quite effective not only for reduction in the electrical resistivity, but also for rapid densification during sintering. The power factor of the Sr0.9Y0.1TiO3/TiB2 composite was similar to that of the Sr0.9Y0.1TiO3 polycrystal synthesized by the conventional solid state reaction method.