Electronic and thermoelectric properties of Nd-doped Ce-filled skutterudite

The study of electronic and thermoelectric properties of Nd doped Ce filled skutterudites (CeFe4P12, CeFe4As12, and CeOs4P12) were explored using full potential lineralized augmented plane waves (FP-LAPW). The exchange-correlation between...

Investigation on the Power Factor of Skutterudite Smy(FexNi1-x)4Sb12 Thin Films: Effects of Deposition and Annealing Temperature

Filled skutterudites are currently studied as promising thermoelectric materials due to their high power factor and low thermal conductivity. The latter property, in particular, can be enhanced by adding scattering centers, such as the ones deriving from low dimensionality and the presence of interfaces. This work reports on the synthesis and characterization of thin films belonging to the Smy(FexNi1-x)4Sb12-filled skutterudite system. Films were deposited under vacuum conditions by the pulsed laser deposition (PLD) method on fused silica substrates, and the deposition temperature was varied. The effect of the annealing process was studied by subjecting a set of films to a thermal treatment for 1 h at 423 K. Electrical conductivity σ and Seebeck coefficient S were acquired by the four-probe method using a ZEM-3 apparatus performing cycles in the 348–523 K temperature range, recording both heating and cooling processes. Films deposited at room temperature required three cycles up to 523 K before being stabilized, thus revealing the importance of a proper annealing process in order to obtain reliable physical data. XRD analyses confirm the previous result, as only annealed films present a highly crystalline skutterudite not accompanied by extra phases. The power factor of annealed films is shown to be lower than in the corresponding bulk samples due to the lower Seebeck coefficients occurring in films. Room temperature thermal conductivity, on the contrary, shows values comparable to the ones of doubly doped bulk samples, thus highlighting the positive effect of interfaces on the introduction of scattering centers, and therefore on the reduction of thermal conductivity.

Strongly reduced lattice thermal conductivity in Sn-doped rare-earth (M) filled skutterudites MxCo4Sb12−ySny, promoted by Sb–Sn disordering and phase segregation

Three effects act as phonon scatterers: rattling of M at 8a cages, phase segregation, and intrinsic disorder introduced by Sn substitution, resulting in minimum k values. High filling fraction in Sn-doped phases pave the way to tune the carrier density in skutterudites.