Effects of adding excess antimony during the polyol process for synthesizing CoSb3 compound have been studied in this project. It was found that with an initial atomic ratio Co:Sb = 1:4.5, the final sample after hot press contained a single CoSb3 phase. With higher initial Sb levels, extra free Sb phase approved in the final products as impurity. With increasing Sb atomic fraction, Seebeck coefficients of the sample was improved. However, the electrical resistivity values increased to a larger extent. As a result, excess Sb gave rise to lower power factor, and hence resulting in poorer thermoelectric performance.Bachelor of Engineering (Materials Engineering
