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Effects of disordered structure on thermoelectric properties of LaCeFe3CoSb12 nanocomposites

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Abstract

To improve the thermoelectric properties of LaCeFe3CoSb12 skutterudite materials, the LaCeFe3CoSb12 nanopowders of disordered structure were fabricated through a laser melting and quenching process and then were hot pressed into bulk pellets with the coexistence of ordered and disordered structures by mixing the disordered powders with the raw LaCeFe3CoSb12 crystalline materials. The results suggest that the introduced disordered structure can increase Seebeck coefficient from 57 to 179 μV/K while reduce thermal conductivity from 3.1 to 1.5 W/(m·K), although electrical conductivity can be decreased from 98,000 to 43,000 S/m, and consequently, figure of merit can be enhanced from 0.11 to 0.90 at 773 K. Therefore, fabricating a material with the coexistence of disordered and ordered structures can be considered as an effective way to obtain a high figure of merit, and this strategy can be also applied to other thermoelectric alloys.

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Acknowledgment

The author (M.L.) would acknowledge financial supports by Henan University of Technology under Grant No. 2011BS056.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Pengxian Lu

  2. Senior 24, Zhengzhou Foreign Language School, Zhengzhou, 450000, China

    Manman Lu

  3. College of Materials Science and Engineering, Henan University of Technology, Zhengzhou, 450001, China

    Lingbo Qu

  4. School of Physical Engineering, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, 450052, China

    Xing Hu

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  1. Pengxian Lu
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  2. Manman Lu
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Correspondence to Pengxian Lu.

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Lu, P., Lu, M., Qu, L. et al. Effects of disordered structure on thermoelectric properties of LaCeFe3CoSb12 nanocomposites. Journal of Materials Research 27, 1518–1521 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.90

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.90

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