AB2X4 compounds and other new thermoelectric materials studied at JPL

Thermoelectric properties of M_yCo_4-ySb₁₂(where M = Sm,Gd. Dy, and Er, y = 0.04-0.32) containing fullerite

Gui-Ying Xu, Si-Tong Niu, Li-Li Zhang, Fen-Rong Yang, Chang-Chun Ge

Lab. of Special Ceramics and Powder Metallurgy, School of Material Science and Engineering,

University of Science and Technology Beijing, Beijing, 100083, China

Semiconductors with the skutterudite structure AB₃ (where A is a transition metal element such as Co, Rh, Ir and B is a pnicogen element such as P, A and Sb) possess attractive potential for high ZT values. Here based on the effect of hollow quantum confinement, M_yCo_4-ySb₁₂ (where M = Dy, and Er, y = 0.04-0.32) containing different amount of fullerite were fabricated by hot-pressing method. It was found that rare-earth metal Dy and Er can increase the thermoelectric properties of AB₃ and fullerite can increase the thermoelectric properties of M_yCo_4-ySb₁₂ further more. The effects of the rare-earth metal elements, the presence of fullerite and of the related microstructure on the thermoelectric properties were investigated.

This work is financially supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant No. 60176004, and by The National High Technology Research and Development Program of China, Grant No. 2002AA31.