Unusual electronic and vibrational properties in the colossal thermopower material FeSb2

Homes, C. C.; Du, Q.; Petrovic, C.; Brito, W. H.; Choi, S.; Kotliar, G.

doi:10.1038/s41598-018-29909-2

Title: Unusual electronic and vibrational properties in the colossal thermopower material FeSb2

Abstract

Abstract The iron antimonide FeSb ₂ possesses an extraordinarily high thermoelectric power factor at low temperature, making it a leading candidate for cryogenic thermoelectric cooling devices. However, the origin of this unusual behavior is controversial, having been variously attributed to electronic correlations as well as the phonon-drag effect. The optical properties of a material provide information on both the electronic and vibrational properties. The optical conductivity reveals an anisotropic response at room temperature; the low-frequency optical conductivity decreases rapidly with temperature, signalling a metal-insulator transition. One-dimensional semiconducting behavior is observed along the b axis at low temperature, in agreement with first-principle calculations. The infrared-active lattice vibrations are also symmetric and extremely narrow, indicating long phonon relaxation times and a lack of electron-phonon coupling. Surprisingly, there are more lattice modes along the a axis than are predicted from group theory; several of these modes undergo significant changes below about 100 K, hinting at a weak structural distortion or phase transition. While the extremely narrow phonon line shapes favor the phonon-drag effect, the one-dimensional behavior of this system at low temperature may also contribute to the extraordinarily high thermopower observed in this material.

Authors:: Homes, C. C.; Du, Q.; Petrovic, C.; Brito, W. H.; Choi, S.; Kotliar, G.

Publication Date:: Fri Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2018

Research Org.:: Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)

Sponsoring Org.:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

OSTI Identifier:: 1462129

Alternate Identifier(s):: OSTI ID: 1462421

Report Number(s):: BNL-207909-2018-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322; 11692; PII: 29909

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0012704

Resource Type:: Journal Article: Published Article

Journal Name:: Scientific Reports

Additional Journal Information:: Journal Name: Scientific Reports Journal Volume: 8 Journal Issue: 1; Journal ID: ISSN 2045-2322

Publisher:: Nature Publishing Group

Country of Publication:: United Kingdom

Language:: English

Subject:: 75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY

Citation Formats


                    Homes, C. C., Du, Q., Petrovic, C., Brito, W. H., Choi, S., and Kotliar, G. Unusual electronic and vibrational properties in the colossal thermopower material FeSb2.  United Kingdom: N. p., 2018. 
        Web.  doi:10.1038/s41598-018-29909-2.

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                    Homes, C. C., Du, Q., Petrovic, C., Brito, W. H., Choi, S., & Kotliar, G. Unusual electronic and vibrational properties in the colossal thermopower material FeSb2.  United Kingdom.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29909-2

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                    Homes, C. C., Du, Q., Petrovic, C., Brito, W. H., Choi, S., and Kotliar, G. 2018.  
        "Unusual electronic and vibrational properties in the colossal thermopower material FeSb2".  United Kingdom.  https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-018-29909-2.

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@article{osti_1462129,

  title        = {Unusual electronic and vibrational properties in the colossal thermopower material FeSb2},

  author       = {Homes, C. C. and Du, Q. and Petrovic, C. and Brito, W. H. and Choi, S. and Kotliar, G.},

  abstractNote = {Abstract The iron antimonide FeSb 2 possesses an extraordinarily high thermoelectric power factor at low temperature, making it a leading candidate for cryogenic thermoelectric cooling devices. However, the origin of this unusual behavior is controversial, having been variously attributed to electronic correlations as well as the phonon-drag effect. The optical properties of a material provide information on both the electronic and vibrational properties. The optical conductivity reveals an anisotropic response at room temperature; the low-frequency optical conductivity decreases rapidly with temperature, signalling a metal-insulator transition. One-dimensional semiconducting behavior is observed along the b axis at low temperature, in agreement with first-principle calculations. The infrared-active lattice vibrations are also symmetric and extremely narrow, indicating long phonon relaxation times and a lack of electron-phonon coupling. Surprisingly, there are more lattice modes along the a axis than are predicted from group theory; several of these modes undergo significant changes below about 100 K, hinting at a weak structural distortion or phase transition. While the extremely narrow phonon line shapes favor the phonon-drag effect, the one-dimensional behavior of this system at low temperature may also contribute to the extraordinarily high thermopower observed in this material.},

  doi          = {10.1038/s41598-018-29909-2},

  url          = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/1462129},
  journal      = {Scientific Reports},

  issn         = {2045-2322},

  number       = 1,

  volume       = 8,

  place        = {United Kingdom},

  year         = {Fri Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2018},

  month        = {Fri Aug 03 00:00:00 EDT 2018}

}

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Title: Unusual electronic and vibrational properties in the colossal thermopower material FeSb2

Abstract

Citation Formats

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Linearized self-consistent quasiparticle GW method: Application to semiconductors and simple metals journal, October 2017

Correlated evolution of colossal thermoelectric effect and Kondo insulating behavior journal, December 2013

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Kondo insulator description of spin state transition in FeSb2 journal, July 2005

Thermopower of correlated semiconductors: Application to FeAs 2 and FeSb 2 journal, August 2010

Seebeck Effect in Germanium journal, June 1954

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Colossal Seebeck effect enhanced by quasi-ballistic phonons dragging massive electrons in FeSb2 journal, September 2016

Optical investigation of the metal-insulator transition in FeSb2 journal, November 2006

Peierls distortion as a route to high thermoelectric performance in In4Se3-δ crystals journal, June 2009

Technique for measuring the reflectance of irregular, submillimeter-sized samples journal, January 1993

Phonon anomalies in some iron telluride materials journal, March 2016

Theory of the Thermoelectric Power of Semiconductors journal, December 1954

Influence of dimensionality on thermoelectric device performance journal, February 2009

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Narrow band gap and enhanced thermoelectricity in FeSb2 journal, January 2010

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Anisotropy and large magnetoresistance in the narrow-gap semiconductor FeSb 2 journal, April 2003

Evidence for electron-phonon interaction in Fe 1 − x M x Sb 2 ( M = Co and Cr; 0 ≤ x ≤ 0.5 ) single crystals journal, April 2010

Compounds with the Marcasite Type Crystal Structure. IV. The Crystal Structure of FeSb2. journal, January 1969

Strong electron correlations in FeSb 2 : An optical investigation and comparison with RuSb 2 journal, December 2010

Highly dispersive electron relaxation and colossal thermoelectricity in the correlated semiconductor FeSb 2 journal, December 2013

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Colossal Seebeck coefficient in strongly correlated semiconductor FeSb 2 journal, September 2007

First-principles treatment of Mott insulators: linearized QSGW+DMFT approach journal, July 2016

Transport properties of silicon journal, August 1991

First-principles study on the lattice dynamics of FeSb2
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Linearized self-consistent quasiparticle GW method: Application to semiconductors and simple metals
journal, October 2017

Correlated evolution of colossal thermoelectric effect and Kondo insulating behavior
journal, December 2013

First-principles study of thermal transport in ${FeSb}_{2}$
journal, January 2014

Optical Conductivity of One-Dimensional Mott Insulators
journal, January 2001

Electronic thermoelectric power factor and metal-insulator transition in FeSb $_{2}$
journal, September 2012

Unified Picture for the Colossal Thermopower Compound ${FeSb}_{2}$
journal, June 2015

Kondo insulator description of spin state transition in FeSb2
journal, July 2005

Thermopower of correlated semiconductors: Application to ${FeAs}_{2}$ and ${FeSb}_{2}$
journal, August 2010

Seebeck Effect in Germanium
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Thermoelectric figure of merit of a one-dimensional conductor
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Thermoelectric properties of the narrow-gap semiconductors FeSb ₂ and RuSb ₂ : A comparative study
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Colossal Seebeck effect enhanced by quasi-ballistic phonons dragging massive electrons in FeSb2
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Optical investigation of the metal-insulator transition in FeSb2
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Technique for measuring the reflectance of irregular, submillimeter-sized samples
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