Thermoelectric properties of higher boride-intermetallics composite materials made from MgAlB14 by spark plasma sintering

We investigated thermoelectric properties of higher boride-intermetallics composite materials. They were prepared by sintering MgAlB14 powder with up to 20 vol% of metals, Co and Ni, using spark plasma sintering (SPS). The composite materials exhibited non-metallic but highly electrically conductive behavior from room temperature to over 1000 K. Furthermore, most the samples had negative Seebeck coefficient that was rare for higher-borides and large power factor. The results indicate this compositization is a useful method to tune and improve thermoelectric properties of higher boride materials.

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