Consideration on the applicability of intermetallic compounds with a large coordination number as thermoelectric materials on the basis of the calculated electronic densities of states

The applicability of intermetallic compounds with the following types of structures as thermoelectric (TE) materials are discussed on the basis of the calculated electronic densities of states: NaZn₁₃-, BaCd₁₁-, Mn₁₂Th-, Ni₁₇Th₂-, Zn₁₇Th₂-, and CaCu₅- type structures. RZn₁₂, (R: heavier rare earth (RE) metal) and R´Zn₁₁ (R´: lighter RE metal) can be the candidates for the n-type and p-type TE materials, respectively, if Mott´s theory for the Seebeck coefficients of 3d metals is valid for f-metals and compounds. YbZn₁₃ and YbNi₅ are also promising because the direct contribution of the 4f-electrons to the conduction may cause an anomalous conduction behavior of the higher thermoelectric power factor. LaCo₁₃, and Y₂Co₁₇ are attractive for the additional contribution of magnetic ordering to the entropy of the compounds that can be expected along with the magnon-drag effect.