https://doi.org/10.1140/epjp/s13360-025-06655-9
Regular Article
Thermoelectric properties developed by using extraordinary malleable p-type Yb-single-filled Skutterudites
1
Department of Physics, Qilu Institute of Technology, 250200, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China
2
Key Laboratory of Disaster Prevention and Structural Safety of China Ministry of Education, School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Guangxi University, 530004, Nanning, China
3
Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Umm AL-Qura University, 24382, Makkah, Saudi Arabia
4
Department of Chemistry, College of Science, King Khalid University, P.O. Box 9004, 61413, Abha, Saudi Arabia
5
Department of Chemistry, Thomas J. R. Faulkner College of Science, Technology, Environment and Climate Change, University of Liberia, 00231, Monrovia, Montserrado County, Liberia
a
sanaullahasif@gmail.com
b
noshichqau@yahoo.com
c
chenzheng@gxu.edu.cn
Received:
24
March
2025
Accepted:
14
July
2025
Published online:
2
August
2025
Filled skutterudites show improved thermoelectric performance compared to their unfilled counterparts, primarily because the inclusion of filler atoms in the voids of the CoSb3 structure increases phonon scattering and significantly reduces lattice thermal conductivity. In this current experimental design, YbxFe3.4Co0.6Sb12 skutterudites having different concentrations of x = 0.4–0.8 were successfully prepared, adopting the solid-state reaction method. The synthesized skutterudite samples were characterized using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray powder diffraction (XRD) techniques. Additionally, the impact of Yb filling on thermoelectric transport properties was assessed across a temperature range from room temperature to 850 K. All experimental samples demonstrated p-type semiconductor behavior, evidenced by their positive Seebeck coefficients. The enhanced thermoelectric performance relative to unfilled compounds is largely due to the successful incorporation of filler atoms. These exceptional features of filled skutterudites are due to reduced lattice thermal conductivity as well as enhanced electrical conductivity. Additionally, at higher temperature lattice thermal conductivity of sample was about 0.88 W m−1 K−1. The significant reduction of thermal conductivity for all the bulk samples was due to enlarged grain boundaries and localized vibration of fillers. Thus, the higher power factor observed for the sample was 2.77 mWcm−1 K−2 at 668 K when the value of x was kept at 0.8. Notably, the Yb0.8Fe3.4Co0.6Sb12 p-type Yb-single-filled skutterudite achieved a peak ZT value of 0.89 at 714 K.
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© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Società Italiana di Fisica and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
