Nanostructured skutterudite-related compound Fe0.25Ni0.25Co0.5Sb3 was synthesized by a solvothermal method using FeCl3, NiCl2, CoCl2, and SbCl3 as the precursors and NaBH4 as the reductant. The solvothermally synthesized powders consisted of fine granules with an average particle size of tens of nanometers. The bulk material was prepared by hot pressing the powders. Transport property measurements indicated a heavily doped semiconductor behavior with n-type conduction. The thermal conductivity is about 1.83 W·m-1·K-1 at room temperature and decreases to 1.57 W·m-1·K-1 at 673 K. The low thermal conductivity is attributed to small grain size and high porosity. A maximum dimensionless figure of merit of 0.15 is obtained at 673 K.
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