Great thermoelectric power factor enhancement of CoSb3 through the lightest metal element filling

Lithium, the lightest metal element with a small ionic radius, is successfully filled into the voids of CoSb3 by utilizing the high pressure synthesis technique. The synthesized Li0.4Co4Sb12 shows the largest thermoelectric power factor of 6000 mu W m(-1) K-2 among all elemental filled CoSb3 materials. This significantly enhanced thermoelectric power factor is attributed to the large carrier mobility of Li0.4Co4Sb12, 61 cm(2) V-1 s(-1), featuring a good electron crystal property for the Li-filled CoSb3 samples. (C) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi:10.1063/1.3557068]