Thermoelectric clathrates of type I

Thermoelectric clathrates hold significant promise for high temperature applications with zT values exceeding 1.3. The inorganic clathrates have been shown to be both chemically and thermally stable at high temperatures, and high performance can be obtained from both single crystals and processed powders. The clathrates also show excellent compatibility factors in segmented module applications. For a materials chemist it is furthermore of great importance that the clathrates exhibit a very rich chemistry with the ability for substitution of many different elements. This allows delicate tuning of both the crystal structure as well as the physical properties. With all these assets, it is not surprising that clathrates have been intensely investigated in the thermoelectric community during the past decade. The present perspective provides a review of the many studies concerned with the synthesis, crystal structure and thermoelectric properties of clathrates with emphasis on the type I clathrate.