Large, nonsaturating thermopower in a quantizing magnetic field.
basic_science · Level V
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- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 29806031.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aat2621 and PMC identifier 5969823.
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Abstract
The thermoelectric effect is the generation of an electrical voltage from a temperature gradient in a solid material due to the diffusion of free charge carriers from hot to cold. Identifying materials with a large thermoelectric response is crucial for the development of novel electric generators and coolers. We theoretically consider the thermopower of Dirac/Weyl semimetals subjected to a quantizing magnetic field. We contrast their thermoelectric properties with those of traditional heavily doped semiconductors and show that, under a sufficiently large magnetic field, the thermopower of Dirac/Weyl semimetals grows linearly with the field without saturation and can reach extremely high values. Our results suggest an immediate pathway for achieving record-high thermopower and thermoelectric figure of merit, and they compare well with a recent experiment on Pb<sub>1-<i>x</i></sub> Sn <sub><i>x</i></sub> Se.