# Structural heterogeneity-induced enhancement of transverse magneto-thermoelectric conversion revealed by thermoelectric imaging in functionally graded materials

## TL;DR

Researchers found that structural heterogeneity in functionally graded materials enhances transverse thermoelectric conversion, revealed through advanced imaging techniques.

## Contribution

The study introduces a novel method combining functionally graded materials and thermoelectric imaging to reveal structural heterogeneity effects on transverse electron transport.

## Key findings

- A non-monotonic enhancement of the anomalous Ettingshausen effect was observed in structurally heterogeneous regions.
- Fe-based crystalline alloys and Cu nanoclusters in the amorphous matrix were identified as contributors to the enhanced thermoelectric response.
- Conventional structural and transport measurements failed to capture the observed enhancement, emphasizing the unique sensitivity of transverse thermoelectric phenomena.

## Abstract

Functionally graded materials (FGMs) exhibit continuous property variations that enable unique functionalities and provide efficient platforms for systematic property optimization. Here, we report the fabrication of FGMs with graded structural heterogeneity by annealing an amorphous metal under a one-dimensional temperature gradient. Using lock-in thermography (LIT), we spatially mapped transverse thermoelectric conversion with high spatial and temperature resolution. A pronounced non-monotonic response was observed, with the maximum anomalous Ettingshausen effect, a transverse charge-to-heat conversion in magnetic materials, appearing in the atomic-heterogeneity regime well before crystallization. This enhancement was not captured by conventional structural or longitudinal transport measurements, highlighting the exceptional sensitivity of transverse thermoelectric phenomena to subtle structural variations. Structural analyses using scanning transmission electron microscopy and atom probe tomography revealed Fe-based crystalline alloys and Cu nanoclusters embedded in the amorphous matrix, whose heterogeneity accounts for the enhanced response. These findings establish temperature-gradient-annealed FGMs, combined with LIT, as a powerful methodology for probing structural-heterogeneity-driven transverse electron transport and for designing high-performance flexible materials.

We demonstrate that disorder-graded functionally graded materials combined with thermoelectric imaging directly reveal a non-monotonic enhancement of the anomalous Ettingshausen effect driven by controlled structural heterogeneity.