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Enhanced thermoelectric properties of Co1−x−y Ni x+y Sb3−x Sn x materials

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Abstract

Co1−x−y Nix+y Sb3−x Sn x polycrystals were fabricated by vacuum melting combined with hot-press sintering. The effect of alloying on the thermoelectric properties of unfilled skutterudite Co1−x Ni x Sb3−x Sn x was investigated. A leap of electrical conductivity from the Co0.93Ni0.07Sb2.93Sn0.07 sample to the Co0.88Ni0.12Sb2.88Sn0.12 sample occurs during the measurement of electrical conductivity, indicating the adjustment of band structure by proper alloying. The results show that alloying enhances the power factor of the materials. On the basis of alloying, the thermoelectric properties of Co0.88Ni0.12Sb2.88Sn0.12 are improved by Ni-doping. The thermal conductivities of Ni-doping samples have no reduction, but their power factors have obvious enhancement. The power factor of Co0.81Ni0.19Sb2.88Sn0.12 reaches 3.0 mW·m−1·K−2 by Ni doping. The dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit reaches 0.55 at 773 K for the unfilled Co0.81Ni0.19 Sb2.88Sn0.12.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Shandong University of Science and Technology, Qingdao, 266510, China

    Hong-quan Liu, Yi-jie Gu & Hong-zhi Cui

  2. State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Development of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, 310027, China

    Sheng-nan Zhang, Tie-jun Zhu & Xin-bing Zhao

Authors
  1. Hong-quan Liu
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  2. Sheng-nan Zhang
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  3. Tie-jun Zhu
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  4. Xin-bing Zhao
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  5. Yi-jie Gu
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  6. Hong-zhi Cui
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Correspondence to Hong-quan Liu.

Additional information

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 50801054 and 51072104) and the Research Award Fund for Outstanding Young Scientists in Shandong Province, China (No. BS2011CL031)

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Liu, Hq., Zhang, Sn., Zhu, Tj. et al. Enhanced thermoelectric properties of Co1−x−y Ni x+y Sb3−x Sn x materials. Int J Miner Metall Mater 19, 240–244 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-012-0545-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12613-012-0545-y

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