Synthesis and crystal structure of CaxCo4Sb12 skutterudites

Pulsed laser deposition of doped skutterudite thin films

“…The lattice parameter, a, calculated from the XRD pattern is 0.9053 nm, far higher than that calculated for the Ca 0.06 Co 4 Sb 12 target material (a = 0.9041 nm). It is also higher than that of bulk CoSb 3 (a = 0.9036 nm [17]), suggesting that the Ca is inserted in the constitutional voids of the skutterudite structure. Schüpp et al [4] also obtained an unusually high value of 0.9112 nm when the CoSb 3 films begin to crystallize (temperature close to 160 AE 16 8C).…”

“…The targets have been cut from cylindrical ingots of 13 mm in diameter prepared using a powder metallurgy technique previously described [17]. The actual composition, determined by electron probe microanalysis is Ca 0.06 Co 4 Sb 12 .…”

Thermoelectric Properties of Triple-Filled Ba x Yb y In z Co4Sb12 Skutterudites

“…This idea was promptly confirmed by the experiments of Morelli and Meisner, 6 and, since then, filled skutterudites have attracted attention worldwide as one of the premier novel thermoelectric materials. Much effort has been extended to identify the most effective filler species and their respective filling fraction limits among the rare-earth elements (La, Ce, Yb, Eu), 7-10 alkaline-earth elements (Ba, Sr, Ca), [11][12][13][14] and other fillers (Tl, In, K). [15][16][17] Even though, upon filling, the thermal conductivity of filled skutterudites is much lower than that of unfilled skutterudites, it nevertheless still remains rather high in comparison with the theoretically estimated minimum thermal conductivity of 0.31 W/m K at room temperature.…”

Structural and physical properties of n-type skutterudite Ca0.07Ba0.23Co3.95Ni0.05Sb12

“…In case of Ca 0.07 Ba 0.23 Co 3.95 Ni 0.05 Sb 12 Co and Ni atoms randomly share the 8c position (1/4,1/4,1/4), Sb is at the 24g site (0,y,z) and (Ca, Ba)-atoms share the voids in 2a (0,0,0). The influence of the filling by either Ca-or Ba-atoms on transport and thermoelectric properties has been already investigated in some detail [11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Already in 1957 Dudkin and Abrikosov [18] showed that small amounts of Ni (w1%Ni) replacing Co in CoSb 3 raise the electric conductivity and simultaneously increase micro-hardness and carrier mobility whilst further increase of Ni-content reduces mobility and hardness.…”