Tuning thermoelectric power factor by crystal-field and spin-orbit couplings in Kondo-lattice materials

Seungmin Hong, Pouyan Ghaemi, Joel E. Moore, Philip W. Phillips

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

We study thermoelectric transport at low temperatures in correlated Kondo insulators, motivated by the recent observation of a high thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) in FeSb2 at T∼10K. Even at room temperature, correlations have the potential to lead to high ZT, as in YbAl3, one of the most widely used thermoelectric metals. At low temperature correlation effects are especially worthy of study because fixed band structures are unlikely to give rise to the very small energy gaps Eg∼5kT necessary for a weakly correlated material to function efficiently at low temperature. We explore the possibility of improving the thermoelectric properties of correlated Kondo insulators through tuning of crystal-field and spin-orbit coupling and present a framework to design more efficient low-temperature thermoelectrics based on our results.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number075118
JournalPhysical Review B - Condensed Matter and Materials Physics
Volume88
Issue number7
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 9 2013

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Electronic, Optical and Magnetic Materials
  • Condensed Matter Physics

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