Skutterudites for thermoelectric applications: Properties, synthesis and modeling

Skutterudites form a class of promising compounds in the field of thermoelectrics. They are among the most studied thermoelectric materials of the last decade because related to the concept of electron-phonon-glass crystal. In literature there are many studies on Co-based skutterudites filled with Rare Earths (RE) (Ballikaya et al. 2012; Daniel et al. 2015a; Zhang et al. 2015; Lili et al. 2015; Bhaskar et al. 2015) and Fe, Co-based (REFe4-x Co x Sb12) (Jacobsen et al. 2014; Zhang et al. 2015; Rogl et al. 2010a), while there 325are very few the studies on Fe, Ni-based skutterudites (REFe4-x Ni x Sb12) (Tan et al. 2013a; Kaltzoglou et al. 2012; Morimura et al. 2003).