Google Search

A1: Low temperature materials

Thermoelectricity of Ce-based heavy Fermion compounds CeCu6 and CeAl3

Mani Pokharel1*, Tulashi Dahal2, Zhensong Ren1, Peter Czajka1, Stephen Wilson1, Zhifeng Ren2 and Cyril Opeil1**To whom correspondence should be addressed
1Department of Physics, Boston College, Chestnut Hill MA 02467, USA2Department of Physics and TcSUH, University of Houston, Houston, TX 77204, USA

For decades heavy-Fermion compounds have been studied to understand the nature of their highly correlated electron behavior at low-temperatures. However, few studies have systematically evaluated their potential as thermoelectric materials. Since most of these compounds exhibit reasonably high electrical conductivity and a sizable peak in thermopower at low temperature, a reduction in thermal conductivity may increase their thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT).  In this study, we employ the approach of mechanical nanostructuring to reduce thermal conductivity of the two heavy-Fermion compounds CeCu6 and CeAl3. Temperature dependent (5 – 300 K) thermoelectric properties of the two compounds will be discussed.  Our results highlight the importance of these compounds as potential p-type thermoelectric materials for low-temperature cooling applications.

Acknowledgement

We gratefully acknowledge funding for this work by the Department of Defense, United States Air Force Office of Scientific Research’s MURI program under contract FA9550-10-1-0533.