Synthesis and thermoelectric properties of single crystalline and polycrystalline Ba8Ga16Ge30

Large Ba8Ga16Ge30 single crystals were synthesized by a Ga-flux method. The single crystals were characterized by X-ray diffraction and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. The cubic structure of Ba filled type-I germanium clathrates with lattice parameter of 10.767 angstrom has been confirmed. The Ba8Ga16Ge30 polycrystalline sample was prepared by melting the synthesized single crystals. Thermoelectric properties of the single crystalline and polycrystalline Ba8Ga16Ge30 samples were measured from room temperature to 773 K. The single crystalline sample shows p-type conduction, while the polycrystalline sample exhibits n-type conduction and typical heavily doped semiconducting behavior. At room temperature, the electrical conductivity of the polycrystalline sample is much higher than that of the single crystalline sample, whereas the absolute value of Seebeck coefficient of the single crystalline sample is higher than that of the polycrystalline sample. The maximum power factor for the single crystalline and polycrystalline samples reaches similar to 17 mu Wcm(-1) K-2 at 773 K and similar to 10 mu W cm(-1) K-2 at 500 K, respectively. (C) 2009 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.