Influence of thermal cycles on thermoelectric uni-leg modules made of Ca3Co4O9/Ca0.95Sm0.05MnO3 oxides

This paper presents an analysis of the thermoelectric properties of the thermo-elements p-Ca3Co4O9 and n-Ca0.95Sm0.05MnO3 and the diffusion phenomena at the interfaces according to thermal cycle (1, 3 and 7 days at 850 °C). The results show that diffusion at the interfaces is almost nil and is therefore unlikely to be responsible for the poor performance of the modules. The thermoelectric properties of p-Ca3Co4O9 are strongly degraded with the number of thermal cycles, while those of n-Ca0.95Sm0.05MnO3 are not affected.