2 research outputs found
Ferromagnetically correlated clusters in semi-metallic Ru2NbAl Heusler alloy
In this work, we report the structural, magnetic and electrical and thermal
transport properties of the Heusler-type alloy Ru2NbAl. From the detailed
analysis of magnetization data, we infer the presence of superparamagnetically
interacting clusters with a Pauli paramagnetic background, while short-range
ferromagnetic interaction is developed among the clusters below 5 K. The
presence of this ferromagnetic interaction is confirmed through heat capacity
measurements. The relatively small value of electronic contribution to specific
heat, gamma (~2.7 mJ/mol-K2), as well as the linear nature of temperature
dependence of Seebeck coefficient indicate a semi-metallic ground state with a
pseudo-gap that is also supported by our electronic structure calculations. The
activated nature of resistivity is reflected in the observed negative
temperature coefficient and has its origin in the charge carrier localization
due to antisite defects, inferred from magnetic measurements as well as
structural analysis. Although the absolute value of thermoelectric figure of
merit is rather low (ZT = 5.2*10-3) in Ru2NbAl, it is the largest among all the
reported non-doped full Heusler alloys.Comment: 25 pages, 14 figure
Superparamagnetic and metal-like Ru2TiGe: a propitious thermoelectric material
We report a study of structural, magnetic, heat capacity and thermoelectric
properties of a Rubased Heusler alloy, Ru2TiGe. The magnetic measurements
reveal that at higher temperatures, diamagnetic and Pauli paramagnetic
contributions dominate the magnetic behaviour whereas, at lower temperatures
(T<= 20 K), superparamagnetic interaction among clusters is observed. Effect of
such magnetic defects is also evident in the electrical resistivity behaviour
at lower temperatures. Though the temperature dependence of resistivity
exhibits a metal-like nature, the large value of Seebeck coefficient leads to
an appreciable power factor of the order of 1 mW/mK2 at 300 K. Large power
factor as well as low thermal conductivity results in a value of ZT = 0.025 at
390 K for Ru2TiGe that is orders of magnitude higher than that of the other
pure Heusler alloys and point towards its high potential for practical
thermoelectric applications