High thermoelectric performance of reduced lanthanide molybdenum oxides densified by spark plasma sintering

Four highly reduced molybdenum oxides LnMo8O14 (Ln = La, Ce, Nd and Sm) containing bicapped Mo8 clusters were synthesized via solid state reaction followed by spark plasma sintering. The thermoelectric properties were investigated, and NdMo8O14 exhibits the best performance with the maximum power factor of 177 μW/mK2 at 1000 K. The highest ZT of NdMo8O14 was determined to be around 0.1 at 1000 K.