Rare earth thermoelectrics

We review the thermoelectric properties of metallic compounds which contain rare-earth atoms. They are the group of metals with the largest value ever reported of the Seebeck coefficient. An increase by 50% of the Seebeck coefficient would make these compounds useful for thermoelectric devices. The largest Seebeck coefficient is found for compounds of cerium (e.g. CePd₃) and ytterbium (e.g. YbAl₃). Theoretical predictions are in agreement with the maximum observed Seebeck coefficient. We discuss the theoretical model which has been used to calculate the Seebeck coefficient. We are solving this model for other configurations (4f)ⁿ of rare-earth ground states