Nanostructuring and thermoelectric properties of bulk skutterudite compound CoSb_3

摘要

Thermoelectric properties of nanostructured skutterudite CoSb_3 have been reported. Nanosized CoSb_3 powders were synthesized through a solvothermal route. The bulk materials with average grain sizes of 250 and 150 nm were prepared by hot pressing and spark plasma sintering from the solvothermally synthesized CoSb_3 powders. Both the samples show n-type conduction and the thermal conductivities are reduced compared with that of the sample prepared by the melt-annealing/hot pressing method. A thermoelectric figure of merit of 0.61 has been obtained for the unfilled CoSb_3 skutterudite by spark plasma sintering, which indicates that nanostructuring is an effective way to improve the thermoelectric properties of skutterudite compounds.