RUNNING HEAD: THERMOELECTRCS 1

Hahnbee Lee

April 3, 2018

Thermoelectrics

Objective: I will start collecting data with my wires and continue to make more wires.
THERMOELECTRICS 2

Materials and Methods

For the last few things several different apparatuses were used to electrodeposit different

forms of vanadium dioxide onto wires. The first apparatus used was an electrolyte solution of

ammonium metavanadate which is an aqueous yellow solution (Figure 1). Mixing the solid

components of the solution with the liquid components was proven to be a long and difficult

process. Mixing was done during every time I was at the lab to dissolve the solution as much as

possible.

Figure 1 – The mixing of the ammonium metavanadate

After the solution was created a thin platinum wire was wrapped around a fluorine doped

tin dioxide (FTO) glass which provided the role of the working electrode. The wire and glass

substrate was connected to the positive port of the battery. The negative port was connected to a

platinum wire component which provided the role of the counter electrode. The platinum wire

was then connected onto the platinum wire we wanted to electrodeposit vanadium onto to

complete the circuit. The current was set at 3 amps and this circuit was left out for approximately

an hour and a half.

We then created another solution and followed another similar apparatus, but instead of

using ammonium metavanadate we used vanadium oxide which was a bright blue powder which
THERMOELECTRICS 3

thus resulted in a bright blue solution. We continued to mix the ammonium metavanadate using a

stir bar to assure that the solution was completely mixed; it continued to become more opaque

and yellow (Figure 2).

Figure 2 – Vanadium oxide solution and ammonium metavanadate solution mixing through the

usage of stir bars

The vanadium oxide solution did not take as long of a time to mix as the ammonium

metavanadate solution. The set up was similar to the first set up; the fluorine doped tin dioxide

glass substrate and platinum connector were used as the working and counter electrodes

respectively. A current of 30 amps and a voltage of 4 was implemented onto the circuit. 30 mL

was used for the solution instead of the previous 15 mL therefore the whole system was covered

in the solution assuring a better contact within the system.

THERMOELECTRICS 4

Figure 3 – Vanadium oxide electrolyte electrodeposition set up

THERMOELECTRICS 5

Data and Results

During the first trial of the week, a little bit of seemingly burnt residue was left on the

glass substrate, but significant difference was not seen on the wire (Figure 4). No color change

was noted and the wire generally looked the same as it did prior to the electrodeposition. We

believe that not much was done to the wire in this run because the wire was not completely

submerged into the electrolyte solution because not enough was made. Additionally, the wire

was not cut completely and the solution might not have been completely dissolved. Therefore,

we conducted more runs and added more water into the solution.

Figure 4 – Unsuccessful run of electrodeposition using ammonium metavanadate

The second trial using vanadium oxide as the electrolyte solution was far more

successful in terms of qualitative data. Immediately a chemical reaction could be seen within the

wire. This could be due to the effectiveness of the solution, but it also could be due to the

changes made from what we learned from the previous experiment. More solution was made to
 THERMOELECTRICS 6

completely cover the substrate and the wire was cut to be shorter. We will truly know if this wire

is more effective when quantitative data is collected.

Figure 5 – The wire immediately after the circuit Figure 6 – The wire a minute after the circuit was
was completed. completed – an immediate chemical reaction of
bubbles was noted.

Figure 7 – The wire after an hour

and 30 minutes of being connected
to the circuit.
THERMOELECTRICS 7

References

Casten, S. (2009, September 12). How much energy does the U.S. waste? Retrieved October 17,

2017, from http://grist.org/article/2009-09-11-how-much-energy-does-the-us-waste/

Garnero, E.J., Mcnamara, A.K., & Shim. S. (2016). Continent-sized anomalous zones with low

seismic velocity at the base of Earth’s mantle. Nature Geoscience, 9(7), 481-489.

Doi:10.1038/ngeo2733

Iafolla, V., Nozzoli, S., & Fiorenza, E. (2003). One axis gravity gradiometer for the

measurement of Newtons gravitational constant G. Physics Letters A, 318(3), 223-233.

doi:10.1016/j.physleta.2003.07.014

L. (2013, December 17). I. P-Type, N-Type Semiconductors. Retrieved November 09, 2017,

from https://photon.libretexts.org/The_Science_of_Solar/Solar_Basics/D._P-

N_Junction_Diodes/I._P-Type%2C_N-Type_Semiconductors

Lee, S., Hippalgaonkar, K., Yang, F., Hong, J., Ko, C., Suh, J., . . . Wu, J. (2017). Anomalously

low electronic thermal conductivity in metallic vanadium dioxide. Science,355(6323),

371-374. doi:10.1126/science.aag0410

Liu, H., & Pike, W. T. (2016). A micromachined angular-acceleration sensor for geophysical

applications. Applied Physics Letters,109(17), 173506. doi:10.1063/1.4966547

Yang, S. (2017, January 26). For This Metal, Electricity Flows, But Not the Heat | Berkeley Lab.

Retrieved October 26, 2017, from http://newscenter.lbl.gov/2017/01/26/electricity-not-

heat-flows-in-vanadium-dioxide/