AVS 57th International Symposium & Exhibition
    Advanced Surface Engineering Tuesday Sessions
       Session SE-TuA

Paper SE-TuA10
Synthesis and Thermoelectric Properties of RuO2 Nanorods

Tuesday, October 19, 2010, 5:00 pm, Room Cimmaron

Session: Surface Engineering for Thermal Management
Presenter: D. Music, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Authors: D. Music, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
F.H.-U. Basse, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
J.J. Gengler, Air Force Research Laboratory
A.A. Voevodin, Air Force Research Laboratory
J.M. Schneider, RWTH Aachen University, Germany
Correspondent: Click to Email
We have explored the effect of the O/Ru ratio on the morphology and the Seebeck coefficient of RuO2 nanorods (space group P42/mnm) synthesized by reactive sputtering. At an O/Ru ratio of 1.69, a faceted surface is observed, while nanorod formation occurs at O/Ru ratios of 2.03 and 2.24. Using classical molecular dynamics with the potential parameters derived in this work, we show that volatile species enable nanorod formation. Based on ab initio calculations, two effects of the nanorod formation on the Seebeck coefficient are observed: (i) increase due to additional states in the vicinity of the Fermi level and (ii) decrease due to oxygen point defects (volatile species). These two competing effects give rise to a moderate increase of the Seebeck coefficient upon nanorod formation.