Abstract
? 2022 Elsevier B.V.The electrolysis voltage strongly influences the morphology and thermoelectric performance of materials prepared by electrochemical synthesis. However, the nature of the reaction is not clear up to now. In this paper, skutterudite CoSb3 with different morphologies are synthesized by molten salt electrolysis at various electrolysis voltages, and the effect of electrolysis voltage on the morphology and thermoelectric performance of skutterudite CoSb3 are studied by comparing their SEM patterns as well as electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficients and thermal conductivity. The electrical conductivities and Seebeck coefficients of the obtained CoSb3 were tested by a four-probe technique. The thermal conductivities were measured by a thermal diffusivity system using Pyroceram as a reference sample. It is found that the electrolysis voltage affects the morphology of the CoSb3 via influencing the relationship between the reaction and diffusion rates. The ZT values of the materials are dependent on their morphologies, grain size and the highest ZT value is 0.028 for petal-like aggregates.
NSTL
Elsevier