The type I clathrates A8Ga16X30 (A=Sr, Ba, Eu; X=Si, Ge, Sn) and filled skutterudites Ay(Fe1-xMx)4Sb12 (A=rare-earth, M=Co, Ni,) are intermetallic compounds with good thermoelectric performance in the temperature range 400-800K. Here we report on the first mixed clathrate-skutterudite unicouple thermoelectric generator and address important technical issues such as upscaling, contacting, and electrode material selection. At 600K, the materials Eu8Ga16Ge30, Ba8Ga16Ge30, and Mm0.7Fe3.5Ni0.5Sb12 synthesized for this purpose have figures of merit ZT=0.32, 0.15, and 0.46, respectively. The clathrate and skutterudite legs were brazed to a hot side nickel electrode. An average contact resistivity of 16 mu cm2 was obtained with Pb-Ag (hot side) and In-Sn (cold side) brazings combined with and intermediate Ni layer. For a temperature difference T=250K (hot side temperature=573K), this generator produced an open circuit voltage Uopen=54mV and an electrical specific power P=178mWcm-2 as our best result with the couple Mm0.7Fe3.5Ni0.5Sb12 and Eu8Ga16Ge30
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.