Abstract
Alkaline-earth (AE) and rare-earth (RE) atoms are usually used as void fillers in the caged compound CoSb3 to improve the thermoelectric performance of the filled system. Polycrystalline single-filled Sr0.21Co4Sb12, double-filled Sr x Yb y Co4Sb12, and Sr x Ba y Co4Sb12 skutterudites have been synthesized. Rietveld structure refinement confirms that both Sr and Yb occupy the Sb-icosaedron voids in skutterudite frame work. In this paper, we report the high-temperature thermoelectric properties including electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity. Double filling of the Sr–Yb combinations shows a stronger suppression on lattice thermal conductivity than that of Sr–Ba combination. Furthermore, the double-filled Sr x Yb y Co4Sb12 skutterudites exhibit a much higher power factor than the Sr-filled system. The maximum power factor for Sr0.22Yb0.03Co4Sb12.12 reaches 41 μW cm−1 K−2 at room temperature and 57.5 μW cm−1 K−2 at 850 K, respectively. The enhanced thermoelectric figures of merit are 1.32 for Sr x Yb y Co4Sb12 and 1.22 for Sr x Ba y Co4Sb12 at 850 K, respectively.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
Avoid common mistakes on your manuscript.
References
G.A. Slack, in CRC Handbook of Thermoelectrics, ed. by D.M. Rowe (CRC, Boca Raton, 1995), p. 407
B.C. Sales, D. Mandrus, R.K. Williams, Science 272, 1352 (1996)
L.D. Chen, T. Kawahara, X.F. Tang, T. Goto, T. Hirai, J.S. Dyck, W. Chen, C. Uher, J. Appl. Phys. 90, 1864 (2001)
X.Y. Zhao, X. Shi, L.D. Chen, W.Q. Zhang, W.B. Zhang, Y.Z. Pei, J. Appl. Phys. 99, 053711 (2006)
M. Puyet, B. Lenoir, A. Dauscher, M. Dehmas, C. Stiewe, E. Műller, J. Appl. Phys. 95, 4852 (2004)
G.S. Nolas, J.L. Cohn, G.A. Slack, Phys. Rev. B 58, 164 (1998)
D.T. Morelli, G.P. Meisner, B.X. Chen, S.Q. Hu, C. Uher, Phys. Rev. B 56, 7376 (1997)
G.S. Nolas, M. Kaeser, R.T. Littleton IV, T.M. Tritt, Appl. Phys. Lett. 77, 1855 (2000)
G.A. Lamberton Jr., S. Bhattacharya, R.T. Littleton IV, M.A. Kaeser, R.H. Tedstrom, T.M. Tritt, J. Yang, G.S. Nolas, Appl. Phys. Lett. 80, 598 (2002)
V.L. Kuznetsov, L.A. Kuznetsova, D.M. Rowe, J. Phys., Condens. Matter 15, 5035 (2003)
Y.Z. Pei, L.D. Chen, W. Zhang, X. Shi, S.Q. Bai, X.Y. Zhao, Z.G. Mei, X.Y. Li, Appl. Phys. Lett. 89, 221107 (2006)
Y.Z. Pei, J. Yang, L.D. Chen, W. Zhang, J.R. Salvador, J. Yang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 95, 042101 (2009)
B.C. Sales, B.C. Chakoumakos, D. Mandrus, Phys. Rev. B 61, 2475 (2000)
G.S. Nolas, H. Takizawa, E. Endo, H. Sellinschegg, D.C. Johnson, Appl. Phys. Lett. 77, 52 (2000)
G.S. Nolas, J. Yang, H. Takizawa, Appl. Phys. Lett. 84, 5210 (2004)
S.Q. Bai, X.Y. Zhao, Y.Z. Pei, L.D. Chen, W.Q. Zhang, in Proceedings of the 25th International Conference of Thermoelectrics, Vienna, Austria, 6–10 August 2006. doi:10.1109/ICT.2006.331301
J. Yang, W. Zhang, S.Q. Bai, Z. Mei, L.D. Chen, Appl. Phys. Lett. 90, 192111 (2007), and references therein
S.Q. Bai, Y.Z. Pei, L.D. Chen, W.Q. Zhang, X.Y. Zhao, J. Yang, Acta Mater. 57, 3135 (2009)
X. Shi, H. Kong, C.P. Li, C. Uher, J. Yang, J.R. Salvador, H. Wang, L. Chen, W. Zhang, Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 182101 (2008)
F. Izumi, T. Ikeda, Mater. Sci. Forum 321–324, 198 (2000)
X.F. Tang, H. Li, Q.J. Zhang, M. Niino, T. Goto, J. Appl. Phys. 100, 123702 (2006)
W.Y. Zhao, C.L. Dong, P. Wei, W. Guan, L.S. Liu, P.C. Zhai, X.F. Tang, Q.J. Zhang, J. Appl. Phys. 102, 113708 (2007)
J.S. Dyck, W. Chen, C. Uher, L.D. Chen, X.F. Tang, T. Hirai, J. Appl. Phys. 91, 3698 (2002), and references therein
J. Yang, L. Xi, W. Zhang, L.D. Chen, J.H. Yang, J. Electron. Mater. (2009). doi:10.1007/s11664-009-07030-9
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bai, S.Q., Huang, X.Y., Chen, L.D. et al. Thermoelectric properties of n-type Sr x M y Co4Sb12 (M=Yb, Ba) double-filled skutterudites. Appl. Phys. A 100, 1109–1114 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-010-5711-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00339-010-5711-3