The effect of various filler atoms on the thermoelectric properties of ternary skutterudites

The conventional synthesis method restricts the search for the best thermoelectric material to thermodynamically stable skutterudites. Modulated reactants allows the nucleation of skutterudite antimonides that are metastable with respect to binary compounds. However, many materials with very interesting properties are only kinetically stable. A technique that employs controlled crystallization of elementally modulated reactants allows the nucleation of skutterudite antimonides that are metastable with respect to binary compounds. Using this method, a series of samples which are partially filled with Gd, Lu, La, Hf and Pb has successfully been synthesized. For the first time, these metastable materials were prepared in bulk amounts.