Nickel-substituted skutterudites: synthesis,structural and electrical properties

摘要

Based on AB3 (A=Co,Ir,Rh and B=P, As andSb) compounds, filled skutterudites (MA4B12: M=rareearth) are promising new thermoelectric elements.Increasing their figure of merit requires realizingsubstitutions to give these compounds semiconductingcharacter with a carrier concentration around 10 19cm-3 and decreasing their thermal conductivity. Inthis framework, many published works have been devotedto CeF4Sb12 which, although metallic due to thetrivalent character of the cerium ion, is the startingcompound for numerous substitutions. For CeyFe4-xNixSb12, the substitution of nickel for iron givessemiconducting compounds. In this paper, we presentour results on these compounds synthesized by thethermal treatment usually applied to obtain CeFe4Sb12.