Unusual Transport and Strongly Anisotropic Thermopower in PtCoO₂ and PdCoO₂

Journal Article · Wed Apr 28 00:00:00 EDT 2010 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.176601· OSTI ID:1064677

Ong, Khuong P. ^[1]; Singh, David J. ^[2]; Wu, Ping ^[1]

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1. Inst. of High Performance Computing, Singapore (Republic of Singapore)
2. Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)

We show, using Boltzmann transport calculations and analysis of experimental data, that hexagonal PdCoO₂ and PtCoO₂ have a highly unusual metallic transport. The in-plane transport is typical of a very good metal, with high conductivity and low positive thermopower. The c-axis transport is completely different, with 2 orders of magnitude lower, but still coherent, conductivity and remarkably a very large negative thermopower. This large anisotropy of the thermopower provides an opportunity for investigating transport in a highly unusual regime using bulk materials.

• Research Organization: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Solid-State Solar-Thermal Energy Conversion Center (S3TEC)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)
• DOE Contract Number: SC0001299; FG02-09ER46577
• OSTI ID: 1064677
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 104, Issue 17; Related Information: S3TEC partners with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (lead); Boston College; Oak Ridge National Laboratory; Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute; ISSN 0031-9007
• Publisher: American Physical Society (APS)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

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