High temperature thermoelectric properties of arc-melted Ba/sub 8/M/sub 16/Si/sub 30/ (M=Al, Ga) clathrates

Ba/sub 8/Al/sub 16/Si/sub 30/ and Ba/sub 8/Ga/sub 16/Si/sub 30/ clathrates were prepared by arc melting technique. The electron probe microanalysis showed the presence of impurities. The low Seebeck coefficient values together with metallic type electrical conductivity showed the highly degenerate nature of the as prepared samples.