Clathrate compounds, manufacture thereof, and thermoelectric materials, thermoelectric modules, semiconductor materials and hard materials based thereon
US6797199B2 · kind B2 · utility
Assignees
Inventors
Key dates
| Filing date | Aug 8, 2002 |
| Grant date | Sep 28, 2004 |
| Priority date | — |
| Expiry date | Apr 4, 2023 |
Classification
- Technology area (CPC Y)Emerging Cross-Sectional Technologies
- CPC primaryY02P20/129
- WIPO fieldMaterials, metallurgy
- WIPO sectorChemistry
Abstract
In high-tech fields such as electronics, the development of new high performance materials which differ from conventional materials has received much attention. An object of the present invention is to provide a clathrate compound which can be used as a thermoelectric material, a hard material, or a semiconductor material. Atoms of an element from group 4B of the periodic table are formed into a clathrate lattice, and a clathrate compound is then formed in which specified doping atoms are encapsulated within the clathrate lattice, and a portion of the atoms of the clathrate lattice are substituted with specified substitution atoms. Suitable doping atoms are atoms from group 1A, group 2A, group 3A, group 1B, group 2B, group 3B, group 4A, group 5A, group 6A, and group 8, and suitable substitution atoms are atoms from group 1A, group 2A, group 3A, group 1B, group 2B, group 3B, group 5A, group 6A, group 7A, group 5B, group 6B, group 7B, and group 8 of the periodic table. Suitable manufacturing methods include melt methods and sintering methods, and moreover intercalant intercalation compounds or the like may also be used as raw materials.
Source: USPTO / EPO open patent data. Objective bibliographic and citation counts.