Anomalous transport properties of the half-metallic ferromagnets Co₂TiSi, Co₂TiGe and Co₂TiSn

Abstract

In this work, the theoretical and experimental investigations of Co(2)TiZ (Z = Si, Ge or Sn) compounds are reported. Half-metallic ferromagnetism is predicted for all three compounds with only two bands crossing the Fermi energy in the majority channel. The magnetic moments fulfil the Slater-Pauling rule and the Curie temperatures are well above room temperature. All compounds show a metallic-like resistivity for low temperatures up to their Curie temperature, above the resistivity changes to semiconducting-like behaviour. A large negative magnetoresistance (MR) of 55 per cent is observed for Co2TiSn at room temperature in an applied magnetic field of mu H-0 = 4T, which is comparable to the large negative MRs of the manganites. The Seebeck coefficients are negative for all three compounds and reach their maximum values at their respective Curie temperatures and stay almost constant up to 950 K. The highest value achieved is -52 mu VK-1 for Co2TiSn, which is large for a metal. The combination of half-metallicity and the constant large Seebeck coefficient over a wide temperature range makes these compounds interesting materials for thermoelectric applications and further spincaloric investigations