ICT2014 Abstracts

Zintl phases provide an avenue for exploration of thermoelectric materials because their complex structures – consisting of polyanionic networks hosting isolated cations – inherently separate electronic transport from thermal transport. The complexity of the structure provides the opportunity to mix phonon scattering features with electron conducting features so that a high figure-of-merit may be achieved.  Additionally, thermal and electric conductivity can be finely tuned in Zintl phases by substituting on either cation or anion sites. Zintl phases have remained a relatively unexplored field of materials until recent years and the opportunities are vast. Recently, a new Zintl phase solid solution – Eu₇Cd₄Sb_8-xAs_x (x = 2, 3, 4 and 5) – has been synthesized for study. Here, we examine the thermoelectric properties of this material as As is substituted into Sb sites in the structure.