Fabrication and thermoelectric properties of SrTiO3–TiO2 composite ceramics

The paper presents the results of preparing biphase SrTiO3-TiO2 ceramics as a promising system for n-type thermoelectrics using the features of a two-dimensional electron gas. Ceramics was obtained by reactive spark plasma sintering of SrCO3 and TiO2. The dynamics of phase transformations are shown; it is clarified that phase transformations are not the driving force of sintering. The mutual stabilization of the SrTiO3 and TiO2 phases is shown. Unique data on the assessment of the temperature gradient in the system have been obtained. A com-parison of the thermoelectric characteristics of biphasic ceramics and its constituent phases allows concluding that the role of the two-dimensional electron gas is reduced to modulating the properties of bulk phases. Clear signs of size quantization were detected by the X-ray luminescence method, which is expressed in the blueshift of the luminescence spectrum by 22.3 +/- 0.8 meV.