Thermoelectric properties of rare earth doped Ca_3-xRE_xCo₄O₉ (RE = Dy, Er, Gd, and Tb; x = 0, 0.01, 0.03, and 0.05)

Ca_3-xRE_xCo₄O₉ thermoelectric ceramics with different rare earth (RE = Dy, Er, Gd, and Tb) substitution for Ca have been successfully produced by the classical solid state method. All these rare earths in small proportions produce the same effects on the thermoelectric phase, reflected on a similar and significant decrease of the electrical resistivity, compared with the undoped samples. The Seebeck coefficient slightly decreases with all the studied substitutions while the power factor values appreciably increase at high temperatures for small amounts (0.01) of doping elements. Further doping produces the decrease of power factor which indicates that the optimal doping level has been determined to be 0.01 for all the tested rare earths which produces, approximately, the same improvement, around 20 % of the power factor obtained in the undoped samples at 800 °C.