Mechanochemical synthesis of double-filled p-type Yb0.75Ce0.25Fe3.5Co0.5Sb12 skutterudites

Skutterudites are one of the most efficient materials for use in thermoelectric applications. From an industrial point of view, along with the high efficiency of thermoelectric materials, it becomes actual to develop a rapid, scalable, and energy-efficient fabrication technique. In this regard, mechanochemical synthesis has gained significant attention as a promising approach. In this work, we demonstrate the applicability and the potential of mechanochemical synthesis for the preparation of p-type skutterudites using Yb0.75Ce0.25Fe3.5Co0.5Sb12 composition as an example. In fact, the time spent on a full cycle of synthesis of bulk samples is less than 10 h, and the highest figure of merit value was 0.62, which is comparable to the values for similar compositions from previously works, where the time for synthesis is tens of times longer.