Abstract
Filled skutterudites are one of the most promising thermoelectric materials for power generation applications. The choice and concentration of filler atoms are key aspects for achieving high thermoelectric figure of merit values. We report on the high temperature thermoelectric properties in the double-filled skutterudites Bax Yby Co4 Sb12. The combination of Ba and Yb fillers inside the voids of the skutterudite structure provides a broad range of resonant phonon scattering and consequently a strong suppression in the lattice thermal conductivity is observed. A dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit of 1.36 at 800 K is achievable for n -type Bax Yby Co4 Sb12.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 182101 |
| Journal | Applied Physics Letters |
| Volume | 92 |
| Issue number | 18 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - 2008 |
Funding
J.R.S. and J.Y. would like to thank Dr. J. F. Herbst and Dr. M. W. Verbrugge for continuous support and encouragement. The work is supported by GM and by DOE under corporate agreement DE-FC26-04NT42278 by the Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Office of Transportation Technologies as part of the High Temperature Materials Laboratory User Program at Oak Ridge National Laboratory managed by the UT-Battelle LLC, for the Department of Energy under contract DE-AC05000OR22725. W.Z. and L.C. thank the financial support from National Basic Research Program of China (973-program) under Project No. 2007CB607503.
| Funders | Funder number |
|---|---|
| Office of Transportation Technologies | |
| Secretary for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy | |
| U.S. Department of Energy | DE-AC05000OR22725, DE-FC26-04NT42278 |
| Oak Ridge National Laboratory | |
| UT-Battelle | |
| National Key Research and Development Program of China | 2007CB607503 |