Surface states in bulk single crystal of topological semimetal Co3Sn2S2 toward water oxidation

The band inversion in topological phase matters bring exotic physical properties such as the topologically protected surface states (TSS). They strongly influence the surface electronic structures of the materials and could serve as a good platform to gain insight into the surface reactions. Here we synthesized high-quality bulk single crystals of Co3Sn2S2 that naturally hosts the band structure of a topological semimetal. This guarantees the existence of robust TSS from the Co atoms. Co3Sn2S2 crystals expose their Kagome lattice that constructed by Co atoms and have high electrical conductivity. They serves as catalytic centers for oxygen evolution process (OER), making bonding and electron transfer more efficient due to the partially filled orbital. The bulk single crystal exhibits outstanding OER catalytic performance, although the surface area is much smaller than that of Co-based nanostructured catalysts. Our findings emphasize the importance of tailoring TSS for the rational design of high-activity electrocatalysts

Sondheimer oscillations as a probe of non-ohmic flow in WP2 crystals

As conductors in electronic applications shrink, microscopic conduction processes lead to strong deviations from Ohm's law. Depending on the length scales of momentum conserving (l(MC)) and relaxing (l(MR)) electron scattering, and the device size (d), current flows may shift from ohmic to ballistic to hydrodynamic regimes. So far, an in situ methodology to obtain these parameters within a micro/nanodevice is critically lacking. In this context, we exploit Sondheimer oscillations, semi-classical magnetoresistance oscillations due to helical electronic motion, as a method to obtain l(MR) even when l(MR) >> d. We extract l(MR) from the Sondheimer amplitude in WP2, at temperatures up to T similar to 40 K, a range most relevant for hydrodynamic transport phenomena. Our data on mu m-sized devices are in excellent agreement with experimental reports of the bulk l(MR) and confirm that WP2 can be microfabricated without degradation. These results conclusively establish Sondheimer oscillations as a quantitative probe of l(MR) in micro-devices