Power factor enhancement in light valence band p-type skutterudites

The heavy band feature in 3d p-type skutterudites causes strong electron-phonon interactions and reduces the power factor. We present band structures of Ru- and Os-containing skutterudites, which show that valence band near the Fermi levels composed of 4d or 5d states is much lighter. In these skutt...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Applied physics letters 2012-07, Vol.101 (2)
Main Authors: Yang, Jiong, Liu, R., Chen, Z., Xi, L., Yang, Jihui, Zhang, W., Chen, L.
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:The heavy band feature in 3d p-type skutterudites causes strong electron-phonon interactions and reduces the power factor. We present band structures of Ru- and Os-containing skutterudites, which show that valence band near the Fermi levels composed of 4d or 5d states is much lighter. In these skutterudites, high Seebeck coefficient can be achieved at low hole concentrations, while the corresponding density of states at the Fermi level as well as electron-phonon interactions are greatly reduced. We demonstrate that LaIr1Os3Sb12 could possess sufficiently high Seebeck coefficient, and its power factor at high temperatures is estimated to be over 50 μW cm−1K−2.
ISSN:0003-6951
1077-3118
DOI:10.1063/1.4733663