Nanocomposites with complex architectures play an important role in the increase of the Figure of Merit of thermoelectric materials. This is due to the capability of such structures to separate thermal and electrical conductivity, a difficult task in single phase materials. In this work, a nanocomposite with complex architecture that combines a high electric conductor phase (CoSb3) and different scattering points (nano‐oxides) at different scales are prepared by a combination of high energy milling in air, to have nanopowders, and Spark Plasma Sintering to compact it at the nanostructure scale. An important reduction of thermal conductivity and a controlled Figure of Merit with ZT values as high as 1.3 are achieved. This work opens the possibility of the processing of a new concept of nanocomposites as the control of electrical and thermal conductivity by different paths lead to an important improvement of the Figure of Merit.

Comunicación presentada en la XII Reunión Nacional de Electrocerámica (ECXII), celebrada en Madrid del 17 al 19 de junio de 2012.

Peer Reviewed