Unconventional aspects of electronic transport in delafossite oxides

TL;DR

This paper reviews unconventional electronic transport phenomena in delafossite oxides, emphasizing the role of interlayer coupling and analyzing experimental and theoretical insights into their transport properties.

Contribution

It highlights the importance of interlayer interactions in delafossite oxides and reviews both experimental findings and theoretical approaches to understanding their transport behavior.

Findings

High-temperature Fermi-liquid behavior in doped CuRhO₂ and CuCrO₂

Unconventional transport due to simple Fermi surfaces in PdCoO₂, PtCoO₂, PdCrO₂

Theoretical tools used to analyze complex transport phenomena

Abstract

The electronic transport properties of the delafossite oxides ABO$_2$ are usually understood in terms of two well separated entities, namely, the triangular A$^+$ and (BO$_2$)$^-$ layers. Here we review several cases among this extensive family of materials where the transport depends on the interlayer coupling and displays unconventional properties. We review the doped thermoelectrics based on CuRhO$_2$ and CuCrO$_2$, which show a high-temperature recovery of Fermi-liquid transport exponents, as well as the highly anisotropic metals PdCoO$_2$, PtCoO$_2$ and PdCrO$_2$ where the sheer simplicity of the Fermi surface leads to unconventional transport. We present some of the theoretical tools that have been used to investigate these transport properties and review what can and cannot be learned from the extensive set of electronic structure calculations that have been performed.