Strongly Correlated Intermetallics: FeSb2

Abstract

FeSb 2 exhibits extraordinary physical properties with a colossal thermopower reaching 45 mV/K at ∼ 10 K, while maintaining fairly low electrical resistivity. This results in extremely high thermoelectric power factors exceeding 2,000 μW/(K2·cm). If the thermal conductivity can be reduced to a few W/(K · m), then a thermoelectric figure of merit of unity is within reach at cryogenic temperatures opening up for a new solid state cooling technology. Furthermore, the physical properties of FeSb 2 are also of immense fundamental interest since the material is believed to be a strongly correlated narrow band gap semiconductor. In the last decade a wide range of studies have explored the synthesis, structure and properties of FeSb 2 and related materials, and here an overview of the efforts is provided.