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. 2022 Dec 9;15(24):8816.
doi: 10.3390/ma15248816.

Thermoelectric, Electrochemical, & Dielectric Properties of Four ZnO Nanostructures

Rusiri Rathnasekara  1 , Grant Mayberry  1 , Parameswar Hari  1   2
Affiliations

Thermoelectric, Electrochemical, & Dielectric Properties of Four ZnO Nanostructures

Rusiri Rathnasekara et al. Materials (Basel). .

Abstract

In this work, we investigated the thermoelectric, electrochemical, and dielectric properties of four different ZnO morphologies, namely nanoribbons, nanorods, nanoparticles, and nanoshuttles. Temperature-dependent Seebeck coefficients were observed using thermoelectric measurements, which confirmed that all synthesized ZnO nanostructures are n-type semiconductors. The Van der Pauw method was applied to measure electrical conductivity, which was also used to calculate the thermal activation energy. Electrochemical properties were analyzed by cyclic voltammetry techniques under five different optical filters. Electrical conductivity of ZnO morphologies showed an increasing trend with increasing temperature. The highest electrical conductivity (1097.60 Ω−1 m−1) and electronic thermal conductivity (1.16×10−4 W/mK) were obtained for ZnO nanorods at 425 K, whereas ZnO nanoshuttles carried the lowest electrical conductivity (1.10 × 10−4 Ω−1 m−1) and electronic thermal conductivity (8.72 × 10−7 W/mK) at 325 K. ZnO nanorods obtained the maximum Power factor value in all temperature ranges. All nanostructures showed electro-catalytic performance with different optical filters. From impedance spectroscopy analysis, ZnO nanorods showed the highest dielectric constant at high frequencies (>1 MHz) at 2.02 ± 0.06, while ZnO nanoshuttles gave the highest dielectric constant at low frequencies (<100 Hz) at 9.69 ± 0.05. These results indicate that ZnO nanorods have the most favorable thermoelectric, electrochemical, and dielectric properties compared to all other ZnO morphologies.

Keywords: Seebeck coefficient; cyclic voltammetry; dielectric constant; electrochemical; impedance spectroscopy; thermal conductivity; thermoelectric.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
C-V spectra of ZnO nanostructures (a) nanoribbons, (b) nanorods, (c) nanoparticles, and (d) nanoshuttles.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Variation of bandgap energy with different wavelengths.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Temperature-dependent Seebeck coefficient of ZnO nanoribbons, nanorods, nanoparticles, and nanoshuttles.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Commercial system (Seebeck thermal stage) of MMR Technologies Inc. (Figures are redrawn from [45] (a) Seebeck stage which has two pairs of thermos couples: green line is sample material and orange line is reference material. (b) MMR refrigerator which controls the temperature.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Temperature-dependent electrical conductivity of ZnO nanostructures (a) nanoribbons, and nanorods, (b) nanoparticles, and nanoshuttles.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Temperature-dependent electronic thermal conductivity of ZnO nanostructures (a) nanoribbons, and nanorods, (b) nanoparticles, and nanoshuttles.
Figure 7
Figure 7
Temperature-dependent power factor of ZnO nanostructures (a) nanoribbons, and nanorods, (b) nanoparticles, and nanoshuttles.
Figure 8
Figure 8
Figure of merit of ZnO nanostructures.
Figure 9
Figure 9
ln R versus 1000/T Arrhenius plot of ZnO nanostructures (a) nanoribbons, (b) nanorods, (c) nanoparticles, and (d) nanoshuttles. The red line indicates the linear Arrhenius plot.
Figure 10
Figure 10
Dielectric spectra of ZnO nanostructures.
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