Effect of Pb Filling and Synthesis Pressure Regulation on the Thermoelectric Properties of CoSb3

Abstract

To take the advantage of the synergy of atom filling and pressure regulation, atom Pb was assumed to play the role of fillers to occupy the Sb-icosahedron voids. In this paper, skutterudite Pb xCo4Sb11.5Te0.5 materials have been synthesized by high-pressure and high-temperature (HPHT) method with 0.5 h processing time. Although the increase of Pb filling rate increased the electrical resistivity of samples, it reduced the thermal conductivity of samples significantly. When the synthesis pressure increased, the Seebeck coefficients of Pb0.2Co4Sb11.5Te0.5 increased, and the thermal conductivity decreased. The crystal morphology and structure of samples, which can effectively affect the thermoelectric properties of materials, were investigated with XRD, Raman spectra, SEM mapping, and HR-TEM analysis.