RUNNING HEAD: THERMOELECTRICS 1

Hahnbee Lee

January 25, 2018

Thermoelectrics

Objective: To finalize research components and order electroplating chemicals.

THERMOELECTRICS 2

Materials and Methods

The past two weeks I have successfully conducted test runs on the Peltier tiles. I

plan do research on what two pairings of metals will make a good test thermocouple and

electrodepositing vanadium oxide.

Electrodeposition of Vanadium Oxides at Room Temperature as Cathodes in Lithium-Ion

Batteries

A three-electrode electrochemical cell made up of platinum, Ag/AgCl, and SnO2 in

1*1*0.3 cm dimensions will be utilized for the deposition of V2O5 coatings. An electrolyte

solution of VO(acac)3 in CH3OH will also be needed for the electrodeposition. Prior to the

electrodeposition, the SnO2 glass substrates will be cleaned with 1-propanol, acetone, deionized

H2O and dried with N2. The vanadium dioxide will be electrodeposited onto a copper wire at

room temperature using deposition current densities and electrolyte concentrations.

This process will be used because it is much less complex than techniques for other

redox-dependent applications.

Ordering the chemicals for the electrodeposition along with performing the

electrodeposition is the next step.

THERMOELECTRICS 3

Seebeck and Peltier Effects

After the wire is electrodeposited I will be conducting an experiment by creating multiple

different thermocouples that are frequently used as thermoelectric materials.

Figure 1 The circuits will be set up in this apparatus.

Due to the Seebeck effect electrons will be diffused when a temperature difference is

applied, therefore using the apparatus (Figure 1) I will determine how efficient the thermocouple

is and comparing them to see if the vanadium dioxide is more efficient than the rest.

To assure that other factors are not taking too large of an effect on the thermocouple, the

Peltier effect will also be tested by running a current through the thermocouples and measuring

the efficiency also.

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Data and Results

The Seebeck coefficient of a material is a measure of the magnitude of an induced

thermoelectric voltage in response to a temperature difference across that material. The SI unit of

the Seebeck coefficient is volts per kelvin (V/K), but commonly used in microvolts per kelvin

(μV/K).

A high Seebeck coefficient shows efficiency in of thermoelectric generators and coolers.

The Seebeck effect can be used to measure temperatures in thermocouples.

Physically, the magnitude and sign of the Seebeck coefficient can be understood as

the entropy per unit charge carried by electrical currents in the material. It may be positive or

negative; the Seebeck coefficient is negative for negatively charged carriers (such as electrons),

and positive for positively charged carriers (such as electron holes).

THERMOELECTRICS 5

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