Preparation and thermoelectric properties of CeFe4As12

The thermoelectric properties of CeFe4As12 have been measured. The compound was synthesized by reacting a powder mixture of CeAs2 and FeAs2 with As metal. The sample was characterized by both x-ray diffractometry and electron microprobe analysis. The Seebeck coefficient, electrical resistivity, Hall effect, and the thermal conductivity were measured between room temperature and about 900 K. The results indicate that CeFe4As12 possesses semimetallic behavior similar to that of CeFe4Sb12 with a room temperature electrical resistivity of 0.49 mΩ cm and a Seebeck coefficient of about 40 μV/K. The thermal conductivity of CeFe4As12 lies between that of CeFe4P12 and CeFe4Sb12 as may be expected from considerations of anionic mass and rattling effect of Ce atoms inside the skutterudite unit cell. A maximum thermoelectric figure of merit value of about 0.4 was obtained at 850 K for this compound.