The inclusion of ceramic carbides dispersion in In and Yb filled CoSb3 and their effect on the thermoelectric performance

In this work, thermoelectric properties of the nanocomposite materials produced via ball milling followed by spark plasma sintering from In0.2Yb0.2Co4Sb12 double filled skutterudite (SKT) with silicon and tungsten carbide inclusions are investigated. The nanocomposites with low volume ratios of β-SiC and α-WC have a significantly increased power factor, while the lattice thermal conductivity is lowered only for β-SiC composites. The power factor enhancement in α-WC/SKT composite compensates the increase of its thermal conductivity, and as a consequence, the maximum value of the figure of merit, 0.97, is attained for 0.33 v% α-WC at 450 °C, with 15% higher than that of the simple skutterudite sample.