Skutterudite structure and thermoelectric property in MyFe4-xCoxSb12 (M=lanthanoid metal): Phonon Glass electron crystal

Abstract

From the simple CoSb3 to MyFe4-xCoxSb12 (M=lanthanoid metal) skutterudite compound has been studied in term of it structure and thermoelectric properties. The changes of structure within the insertion of different element of lanthanoid elements were discussed. The structure with phonon glass electron crystal (PGEC) model showed promising value to attain high thermoelectric properties for the compound. The classification of the materials to be in PGEC behavior led the understanding on the demanding properties for thermoelectric. Thus, relationship between the PGEC behavior and thermoelectric properties are also discussed.