title: Solubility design leading to high figure of merit in low-cost Ce-CoSb3 skutterudites.
abstract: CoSb3-based filled skutterudite has emerged as one of the most viable candidates for thermoelectric applications in automotive industry. However, the scale-up commercialization of such materials is still a challenge due to the scarcity and cost of constituent elements. Here we study Ce, the most earth abundant and low-cost rare earth element as a single-filling element and demonstrate that, by solubility design using a phase diagram approach, the filling fraction limit (FFL) x in CexCo4Sb12 can be increased more than twice the amount reported previously (x=0.09). This ultra-high FFL (x=0.20) enables the optimization of carrier concentration such that no additional filling elements are needed to produce a state of the art n-type skutterudite material with a zT value of 1.3 at 850 K before nano-structuring. The earth abundance and low cost of Ce would potentially facilitate a widespread application of skutterudites.
authors.affiliation: 1] Department of Applied Physics and Materials Science, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125, USA [2] Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Yinglu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: Riley
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hanus
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, National Tsing Hua University, #101, Sec.2, Kuang-Fu Rd., Hsin-Chu 300, Taiwan.
authors.forename: Sinn-wen
authors.initials: SW
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208, USA.
authors.forename: G Jeffrey
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Snyder