This work aims to explore zirconium as a possible dopant to promote thermoelectric performance in bulk ZnO-based materials, both within the single-doping concept and on simultaneous co-doping with aluminum. At 1100–1223 K mixed-doped samples demonstrated around ∼2.3 times increase in ZT as compared to single-doped materials, reaching ∼0.12. The simultaneous presence of aluminum and zirconium imposes a synergistic effect on electrical properties provided by their mutual effects on the solubility in ZnO crystal lattice, while also allowing a moderate decrease of the thermal conductivity due to phonon scattering effects. At 1173 K the power factor of mixed-doped Zn_0.994Al_0.003Zr_0.003O was 2.2–2.5 times higher than for single-doped materials. Stability tests of the prepared materials under prospective operation conditions indicated that the gradual increase in both resistivity and Seebeck coefficient in mixed-doped compositions with time may partially compensate each other to maintain a relatively high power factor.

这项工作的目的是探索锆作为一种可能的掺杂剂，以在单掺杂概念内以及与铝同时共掺杂的情况下，促进块状ZnO基材料的热电性能。在1100-1223 K处，与单掺杂材料相比，混合掺杂样品的ZT约高2.3倍，达到约0.12。铝和锆的同时存在对它们在ZnO晶格中的溶解度的相互影响提供了对电性能的协同效应，同时由于声子散射效应还允许适度降低热导率。在1173 K时混合掺杂的Zn的功率因数_0.994 Al _0.003 Zr _0.003O是单掺杂材料的2.2-2.5倍。在预期的操作条件下对所制备材料的稳定性测试表明，混合掺杂组合物中电阻率和塞贝克系数随时间的逐渐增加可能会部分相互补偿，以保持相对较高的功率因数。