Thermal conductivity of CoSb3 nano-composites grown via a novel solvothermal nano-plating technique

We have utilized a solvothermal nano-plating technique to grow nano-structured CoSb3 directly onto the surface of micron-sized CoSb3 particles that were subsequently hot pressed and densified into a homogeneous skutterudite nano-composite. We herein present results for three samples: a bulk sample to serve as a reference, and two samples with solvothermally gown nano-structures of 5 wt% and 20 wt%, respectively. All three samples used the same bulk starting materials. The thermal conductivity was measured via two independent techniques (steady state and laser flash) and both show a systematic reduction in the thermal conductivity with an increasing amount of nano-structures. (C) 2007 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.