  Nanostructured materials and nanocomposites have shown great promise for
improving the efficiency of thermoelectric materials. Herein, Fe nanoparticles
were imbedded into a CrN matrix by combining two physical vapor deposition
approaches, namely high-power impulse magnetron sputtering and a nanoparticle
gun. The combination of these techniques allowed the formation of
nanocomposites in which the Fe nanoparticles remained intact without
intermixing with the matrix. The electrical and thermal transport properties of
the nanocomposites were investigated and compared to a monolithic CrN film. The
measured thermoelectric properties revealed an increase in the Seebeck
coefficient, with a decrease of hall carrier concentration and an increase of
the electron mobility which could be explained by energy filtering by internal
phases created at the NP/matrix interface. The thermal conductivity of the
final nanocomposite was reduced from 4.8 W m-1K-1 to a minimum of 3.0 W m-1K-1
W. This study shows prospects for the nanocomposite synthesis process using
nanoparticles and its use in improving the thermoelectric properties of
coatings.
