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Title: Panoscopic approach for high-performance Te-doped skutterudite

Journal Article · · NPG Asia Materials (Online)
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/am.2017.1· OSTI ID:1356109
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  1. Wuhan Univ. of Technology, Hubei (China). State Key Lab. of Advanced Technology for Materials Synthesis and Processing
  2. Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States). Dept. of Physics
  3. Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States). Dept. of Chemistry

One-step plasma-activated sintering (OS-PAS) fabrication of single-phase high-performance CoSb3-based skutterudite thermoelectric material with a hierarchical structure on a time scale of a few minutes is first reported here. The formation mechanism of the CoSb3 phase and the effects of the current and pressure fields on the phase transformation and microstructure evolution are studied in the one-step PAS process. The application of the panoscopic approach to this system and its effect on the transport properties are investigated. The results show that the hierarchical structure forms during the formation of the skutterudite phase under the effects of both current and sintering pressure. The samples fabricated by the OS-PAS technique have defined hierarchical structures, which scatter phonons more intensely over a broader range of frequencies and significantly reduce the lattice thermal conductivity. High-performance bulk Te-doped skutterudite with the maximum ZT of 1.1 at 820 K for the composition oSb2.875Te0.125 was obtained. Such high ZT values rival those obtained from single filled skutterudites. This newly developed OS-PAS technique enhances the thermoelectric performance, dramatically shortens the synthesis period and provides a facile method for obtaining hierarchical thermoelectric materials on a large scale.

Research Organization:
Wuhan Univ. of Technology, Hubei (China); Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Vehicle Technologies Office (EE-3V); National Basic Research Program of China; Natural Science Foundation of China; 111 Project of China; USDOE
Contributing Organization:
Northwestern Univ., Evanston, IL (United States)
Grant/Contract Number:
PI0000012; 2013CB632502; 51172174; 51402222; 51521001; 51632006; B07040
OSTI ID:
1356109
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1362283
Journal Information:
NPG Asia Materials (Online), Vol. 9, Issue 2; ISSN 1884-4057
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group AsiaCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Citation Metrics:
Cited by: 40 works
Citation information provided by
Web of Science

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Cited By (5)

Weak Electron Phonon Coupling and Deep Level Impurity for High Thermoelectric Performance Pb 1− x Ga x Te journal May 2018
One-step ultra-rapid fabrication and thermoelectric properties of Cu 2 Se bulk thermoelectric material journal January 2019
Energy Filtering of Charge Carriers: Current Trends, Challenges, and Prospects for Thermoelectric Materials journal May 2019
Thermoelectric performance of CuFeS2+2x composites prepared by rapid thermal explosion journal June 2017
Performance analysis of thermoelectric generator by using lead telluride, perovskites, skutterudites and tetrahedrites journal September 2019

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