Issue 10, 2018

Large Nernst power factor over a broad temperature range in polycrystalline Weyl semimetal NbP

Abstract

The discovery of topological materials has provided new opportunities to exploit advanced materials for heat-to-electricity energy conversion as they share many common characteristics with thermoelectric materials. In this work, we report the magneto-thermoelectric properties and Nernst effect of the topological Weyl semimetal NbP. We find that polycrystalline, bulk NbP shows a significantly larger Nernst thermopower than its conventional thermopower under magnetic field. As a result, a maximum Nernst power factor of ∼35 × 10−4 W m−1 K−2 is achieved at 9 T and 136 K, which is 4 times higher than its conventional power factor and is also comparable to that of state-of-the-art thermoelectrics. Moreover, the Nernst power factor maintains relatively large value over a broad temperature range. These results highlight that the enhancement of thermoelectric performance can be achieved in topological semimetals based on the Nernst effect and transverse transport.

Graphical abstract: Large Nernst power factor over a broad temperature range in polycrystalline Weyl semimetal NbP

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Communication
Submitted
16 7 2018
Accepted
14 8 2018
First published
14 8 2018
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Energy Environ. Sci., 2018,11, 2813-2820

Large Nernst power factor over a broad temperature range in polycrystalline Weyl semimetal NbP

C. Fu, S. N. Guin, S. J. Watzman, G. Li, E. Liu, N. Kumar, V. Süβ, W. Schnelle, G. Auffermann, C. Shekhar, Y. Sun, J. Gooth and C. Felser, Energy Environ. Sci., 2018, 11, 2813 DOI: 10.1039/C8EE02077A

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