Method of manufacturing a clathrate compound
AssigneeUniversity of South Florida
InventorsGeorge S. Nolas, Sarath Witanachchi, Pritish Mukherjee
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Abstract
The present invention comprises new materials, material structures, and processes of fabrication of such that may be used in technologies involving the conversion of light to electricity and/or heat to electricity, and in optoelectronics technologies. The present invention provide for the fabrication of a clathrate compound comprising a type II clathrate lattice with atoms of silicon and germanium as a main framework forming lattice spacings within the framework, wherein the clathrate lattice follows the general formula Si136−yGey, where y indicates the number of Ge atoms present in the main framework and 136−y indicates the number of Si atoms present in the main framework, and wherein y>0.
Claims5
A method of synthesizing a clathrate compound 1, the method comprising the steps of:
- a) forming an intermediate Zintl compound in a nitrogen gas atmosphere;
- b) grinding the intermediate Zintl compound to a fine powder in an inert atmosphere;
- c) heating the ground intermediate Zintl compound through a first temperature of approximately 360° C. at a rate of approximately several hundred ° C/min;
- and
- d) heating the intermediate Zintl compound to a second temperature for a predetermined second duration of time to form a clathrate compound comprising a type II clathrate lattice with atoms of silicon and germanium as a main framework forming lattice spacings within the framework, wherein the clathrate lattice follows the general formula Si136−yGey, where y indicates the number of Ge atoms present in the main framework and 136−y indicates the number of Si atoms present in the main framework, and wherein y>0, wherein the second temperature determines the composition of the clathrate compound and the second duration of time determines a guest atom content within the lattice spacings of the clathrate compound.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.