Preparation and Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties of p-Type BaFe^sub 12^O^sub 19^/CeFe^sub 3^CoSb^sub 12^ Magnetic Nanocomposite Materials

• Published in: Journal of electronic materials 2014-06, Vol.43 (6), p.1498
• Main Authors: Zhou, Hong-yu, Zhao, Wen-yu, Zhu, Wan-ting, Yu, Jian, Wei, Ping, Tang, Ding-guo, Zhang, Qing-jie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Electric properties; Electrical engineering; Materials science; Nanocomposites
• ISSN: 0361-5235; 1543-186X
• DOI: 10.1007/s11664-013-2746-1

Issue Title: International Conference on Thermoelectrics 2013. Guest Editors: Jihui Yang, Hiroaki Anno, Matt Beekman, Ryoji Funahashi, Yuri Grin, Emmanuel Guilmeau, Jan Koenig, Bertrand Lenoir, Don Morelli, Lasse Rosendahl, James R. Salvador, Jeff Sharp, David Singh, Tsunehiro Takeuchi, Xiegeng Tang, Chunlei Wang, Hsin Wang, Wenqing Zhang, and Tie-Jun Zhu A series of p-type xBaFe^sub 12^O^sub 19^/CeFe^sub 3^CoSb^sub 12^ (x = 0, 0.05%, 0.10%, 0.20%, 0.40%) magnetic nanocomposite thermoelectric (TE) materials have been prepared by the combination of ultrasonic dispersion and spark plasma sintering (SPS). The effects of BaFe^sub 12^O^sub 19^ magnetic nanoparticles on the phase composition, microstructure, and TE properties of the nanocomposite materials were investigated in this work. x-Ray diffraction analysis shows that all the SPSed bulk samples are composed of main phase skutterudite besides a small amount of FeSb^sub 2^ and Sb. The TE transport measurements demonstrated that remarkable enhancements in electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient can be simultaneously realized by optimizing the doping content of BaFe^sub 12^O^sub 19^ magnetic nanoparticles. The lattice thermal conductivity was significantly reduced because of enhanced phonon scattering induced by BaFe^sub 12^O^sub 19^ nanoparticles. The highest ZT value reached 0.75 at 800 K for the sample with x = 0.05%, increased by 41.5% as compared with that of p-type CeFe^sub 3^CoSb^sub 12^ bulk material without BaFe^sub 12^O^sub 19^ magnetic nanoparticles. This work confirms that doping a small amount of BaFe^sub 12^O^sub 19^ magnetic nanoparticles can significantly improve the ZT value of p-type xBaFe^sub 12^O^sub 19^/CeFe^sub 3^CoSb^sub 12^ magnetic nanocomposite TE materials.[PUBLICATION ABSTRACT]