Investigation on Quick Fabrication of n-type Filled Skutterudites

The cost-effective fabrication of CoSb 3 -based filled skutterudites (SKD) thermoelectric materials is a bottleneck issue preventing their successful commercial application. In this study, we employed a simple and scalable process to simultaneously produce a rapid formation and consolidation of n-type filled skutterudites. This method, consisting of RF-induction melting, quenching and spark plasma sintering (SPS), required less than a half-hour, significantly shorter than conventional process of furnace melting (over 24 h), annealing (about one week) and SPS. The fabricated bulk SKD materials possessed homogeneous composition and structures with a good thermoelectric performance which are analogous to those materials fabricated according to a conventional process. The homogeneous microstructures and phase composition distribution which was a result of the simultaneously proceeded rapid reaction and densification of the grinding-destructed dendrite networks of the Sb/CoSb/CoSb 2 peritectic structure formed in the RF-induction melting and quenching. The good thermoelectric TE performance and the very low consumption of process time and energy would make this simple process a potential and practical method for industrial-level mass production of filled skutterudite thermoelectric materials.