Thermopower and electrical resistivity measurements transverse to the
conducting chains of the quasi-one-dimensional metal Li(0.9)Mo(6)O(17) are
reported in the temperature range 5 K = 400 K the
interchain transport is determined by thermal excitation of charge carriers
from a valence band ~ 0.14 eV below the Fermi level, giving rise to a large,
p-type thermopower that coincides with a small, n-type thermopower along the
chains. This dichotomy -- semiconductor-like in one direction and metallic in a
mutually perpendicular direction -- gives rise to substantial transverse
thermoelectric (TE) effects and a transverse TE figure of merit among the
largest known for a single compound.Comment: PRL in press, manuscript (5pp, 4 Fig.'s) and Supplementary Material
(3pp, 3 Fig.'s
