The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Mar. 01, 2005
Filed:
May. 27, 2002
Ryoji Funahashi, Ikeda, JP;
Ichiro Matsubara, Ikeda, JP;
Masahiro Shikano, Ikeda, JP;
National Institute of Advanced Technology, Tokyo, JP;
Abstract
The present invention provides a method by which an oxide material having excellent thermoelectric conversion performance can be produced by a simple process. Specifically, the present invention provides a method for producing a composite oxide single crystal in which a mixture of raw substances including a Bi-containing substance, a Sr-containing substance, a Ca-containing substance, a Co-containing substance and a Te-containing substance, or a mixture of raw substances also including a Pb-containing substance in addition to the above-mentioned substances, is heated in an oxygen-containing atmosphere at a temperature below the melting point of any of the raw substances. The composite oxide single crystal produced by the method of the present invention is a ribbon-shaped fibrous single crystal that is about 10 to 10,000 μm long, about 20 to 200 μm wide, and about 1 to 5 μm thick. According to the method of the present invention, a composite oxide single crystal with excellent thermoelectric conversion performance can be produced simply by heating a mixture of raw substances at a relatively low temperature, below the melting point of any of the raw substances, meaning that a relatively easy and safe heat treatment operation can be performed, which contributes to cost reduction.