Mesopore effects on thermoelectric properties of CuO nanoparticles

Thermoelectrics are known to be one of the alternative renewable sources of energy for the ever growing energy need. In this work we investigated the effect of growth condition on structural, morphological and thermoelectric properties of mesoporous CuO nanoparticles, a material composed of earth abundantelements and lowcost. Thermoelectric transport properties were studied over the temperature range 373 K-873 K. Positive values of thermopower ensured that holes are the majority charge carriers. CuO nanoparticles grown at an optimum value of pH 9of the precursor solution have reduced pore volume than those grown at pH 12. The Power factor has considerably been enhanced and reached the maximum value from 0.90 µW/mK² to 2.35 µW/mK² at 773K by reducing the pore volume to minimize the energy filtering effect of charge carriers, i.e. porosity and the size of poreshave significant effects on electron and phonon transport which are favorable for thermoelectric applications.