Colossal Seebeck effect enhanced by quasi-ballistic phonons dragging massive electrons in FeSb2

H. Takahashi (), R. Okazaki, S. Ishiwata, H. Taniguchi, A. Okutani, M. Hagiwara and I. Terasaki ()
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H. Takahashi: The University of Tokyo
R. Okazaki: Nagoya University
S. Ishiwata: The University of Tokyo
H. Taniguchi: Nagoya University
A. Okutani: Center for Advanced High Magnetic Field Science, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University
M. Hagiwara: Center for Advanced High Magnetic Field Science, Graduate School of Science, Osaka University
I. Terasaki: Nagoya University

Nature Communications, 2016, vol. 7, issue 1, 1-6

Abstract: Abstract Phonon transport is an essential property of thermoelectric materials. Although the phonon carries heat, which reduces the thermoelectric efficiency, it contributes positively to the Seebeck coefficient S through the phonon-drag effect, as typified by the high-purity semiconductors, which show fairly large S at cryogenic temperatures. Although such a large S is attractive in terms of Peltier cooling, a clear guiding principle for designing thermoelectric materials enriched by the phonon-drag effect remains to be established. Here we demonstrate that a correlated semiconductor, FeSb2, is a promising thermoelectric material featuring quasi-ballistic phonons dragging d electrons with large effective mass. By changing the sample size within the sub-millimetre order for high-purity single crystals, we succeed in substantially increasing S to as much as −27 mV K−1 at low temperatures. Our results exemplify a strategy for exploring phonon-drag-based thermoelectric materials, the performance of which can be maximized by combining heavy electrons with ballistic phonons.

Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms12732

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