In this study, we report the successful fabrication of polycrystalline tetragonal SrCu2O2 by a solid state reaction and the dependence of its thermoelectric properties on the sintering temperature. Two sintering temperatures, 1093 K and 1143 K, were used in the solid state reaction process. A p-type semiconducting behavior was observed for both samples. In the temperature range of 423 to 923 K, the SrCu2O2 sintered at 1093 K shows a relatively higher conductivity, power factor, and figure of merit as compared to the SrCu2O2 sintered at 1143 K. At 923 K, the Seebeck coefficient and the power factor for the SrCu2O2 sintered at 1093 K are 298 mV/K and 2 × 10−6 W/mK2, respectively. These values are comparable to the thermoelectric performance of polycrystalline p-type CuAlO2, suggesting that polycrystalline SrCu2O2 prepared with optimized conditions could be used for thermoelectric applications.

Keywords: SrCu2O2, Solid-state reaction, Polycrystalline, Thermoelectric property, Temperature effect.