Thermoelectric devices based on materials with filled skutterudite structutres

A thermoelectric material having a skutterudite structure, comprising:

• a first component of a first amount from at least one non-metal element from the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth columns of the periodic table including pnicogen elements and chalcogen elements;
• a second component of a second amount from at least one transition metal element;
• a third component of a third amount from at least one metallic element including a rare-earth element;
• said first component, said second component, and said third component being arranged relative to each other and interacting with each other to form said skutterudite structure with thirty-four atomic crystallographic sites including twenty-four non-metal atoms from said first component, eight transition metal atoms from said second component and two metallic atoms from said third component;
• said twenty-four non-metal atoms and said eight transition metal atoms having an atomic arrangement relative to each other to form a lattice structure indicative of the space group Im3;
• and
• said first amount, said second amount and said third amount being proportional relative to each other so that said thermoelectric material has transport properties of being semimetallic or semiconducting.

A method for fabricating a thermoelectric alloy of a filled skutterudite structure, comprising:

• providing a plurality of nominal elements having at least a first amount of a first rare-earth element, a second amount of a first transition metal element, and a third amount of a second transition metal element, said first amount, said second amount and said third amount having a predetermined stoichiometric ratio relative to each other;
• mixing said nominal elements with each other to produce a mixture thereof;
• heating said mixture in vacuum above a first temperature to melt said mixture;
• cooling said mixture;
• adding at least a first pnicogen element of a fourth amount to said mixture;
• melting and sintering said pnicogen element and said mixture of said nominal elements by heating above a second temperature in vacuum to produce precursor of said nominal elements and said pnicogen element;
• and
• annealing said precursor at a third temperature in an annealing temperature range for a predetermined amount of time to produce said thermoelectric alloy of said filled skutterudite structure.

A thermoelectric device, comprising:

• a first substrate at a first temperature;
• a second substrate at a second temperature, said second temperature being different from said first temperature to form a temperature gradient across said first substrate and said second substrate;
• at least one piece of p-type thermoelectric material disposed between said first substrate and said second substrate, having a first end surface in thermal contact with said first substrate and a second end surface in thermal contact with said second substrate;
• at least one piece of n-type thermoelectric material disposed between said first substrate and said second substrate relative to said p-type thermoelectric material, having a first end surface in thermal contact with said first substrate and a second end surface in thermal contact with said second substrate;
• at least one of said p-type thermoelectric material and said n-type thermoelectric material having a filled skutterudite-type lattice structure;
• an electrical conducting element, disposed to electrically connect said first surface of said p-type thermoelectric material with said first surface of said n-type thermoelectric material to provide a first electrical conduit therebetween;
• an electrical circuit, having a first terminal and a second terminal, said first terminal connecting to said second surface of said p-type thermoelectric material, said second terminal connecting to said second surface of said n-type thermoelectric material, said electrical circuit operating to provide a second electrical conduit between said p-type thermoelectric material and said n-type thermoelectric material;
• said p-type thermoelectric material, said electrically conducting element, said n-type thermoelectric material, and said electrical circuit forming an electrical loop to have an electrical current therein;
• and
• said p-type thermoelectric material and said n-type thermoelectric material operating to correlate said electrical current with said temperature gradient.