Enhancing the thermoelectric performance of filled skutterudite nanocomposites in a wide temperature range via electroless silver plating

Abstract So far high thermoelectric performance of filled skutterudite can only be obtained at relatively high temperature, which severely limits its application. Here, Yb-filled skutterudite (Yb 0.35 Co 4 Sb 12 ) composites incorporated with silver nanoparticles are fabricated via electroless plating for achieving enhanced thermoelectric performance. The content and homogeneity of Ag nanoparticle can be well controlled to optimize the thermoelectric properties of bulk composite. As a result, the Yb 0.35 Co 4 Sb 12 composite with optimum Ag content shows remarkably improved Seebeck coefficient and power factor, which leads to high ZT values above 0.8 from 450 to 800 K and a peak value of 1.0 at 603 K.