Transverse and Longitudinal Magnetothermopower Promoted by Ambipolar Effect in Half-Heusler Topological Materials

TL;DR

This study reveals that DyPtBi, a topological semimetal, exhibits large transverse and longitudinal magnetothermopower simultaneously, defying conventional trade-offs, due to ambipolar effects and imperfect electron-hole compensation.

Contribution

It demonstrates the coexistence of large $S_{xx}$ and $S_{yx}$ in DyPtBi, highlighting the role of band structure and compensation tuning in enhancing thermoelectric properties.

Findings

DyPtBi reaches $S_{xx}=131 \,\mu$V/K and $S_{yx}=-297 \,\mu$V/K at 14 T.

Significant $S_{yx}$ persists at room temperature and low magnetic fields.

Comparison with DyPdBi emphasizes the importance of band structure and compensation.

Abstract

Topologically trivial and non-trivial semimetals with a high degree of carrier compensation are well known for demonstrating large transverse magnetothermopower ($S_{yx}$). However, in such systems, the longitudinal magnetothermopower ($S_{xx}$) is typically suppressed due to nearly perfect electron-hole compensation. Here, we show that the half-Heusler topological semimetal DyPtBi exhibits simultaneously large $S_{xx}$ and $S_{yx}$ magnetothermopowers, defying this conventional trade-off. In $B=14$\,T, thermopower of DyPtBi reaches peak values of $S_{xx}=131\,\mu\rm{V/K}$ at $T=149$\,K and $S_{yx}=-297\,\mu\rm{V/K}$ at $T=200$\,K, and transverse component remains significantly large even at $290$\,K ($S_{yx}=-213\,\mu\rm{V/K}$). Remarkably, at $T=290$\,K and in relatively weak magnetic field of $1$\,T, both relevant for practical applications, DyPtBi shows $S_{yx}=-18\,\mu\rm{V/K}$, which is one of the largest values reported under such conditions. The large transverse thermopower originates from an ambipolar effect associated with thermal excitation occurring in zero-gap semiconductors. Due to the imperfect electron-hole compensation, an intrinsic asymmetry between hole- and electron-type carriers enables pronounced values of both $S_{xx}$ and $S_{yx}$, resulting in high effective thermopower ($S_{xx}+|S_{yx}|=379\,\mu\rm{V/K}$) in DyPtBi at 200\,K. A comparative analysis with DyPdBi, another half-Heusler material that demonstrates large $S_{xx}=123\,\mu\rm{V/K}$ but small $S_{yx}=-16\,\mu\rm{V/K}$ (both values obtained at $T=293$\,K and $B=14$\,T), highlights the critical role of band structure and compensation tuning. These findings underscore the potential of chemical doping and band engineering in rare-earth-based half-Heusler materials for optimizing both transverse and longitudinal thermoelectric properties.