Anomalous Thermoelectric Performance in Asymmetric Dirac Semimetal BaAgBi

Abstract

Multiple-band degeneracy has been widely recognized to be beneficial for high thermoelectric performance. Here, we discover that the p-type Dirac bands with lower degeneracy synergistically produce a higher Seebeck coefficient and electrical conductivity in topological semimetal BaAgBi. The anomalous transport phenomenon intrinsically originated from the asymmetric electronic structures: (i) complete p-type Dirac bands near the Fermi level facilitate high and strong energy-dependent hole relaxation time; (ii) the presence of additional parabolic conduction valleys allows for a large density of states to accept scattered electrons, leading to an enlarged hole-electron relaxation time ratio and, thus, weakened bipolar effect. In combination with the strong lattice anharmonicity, an exceptional p-type average <i>ZT</i> of 0.42 is achieved from 300 to 600 K, which can be dramatically enhanced to 1.38 via breaking the <i>C</i>_3<i>v</i> symmetry. This work uncovers the underlying mechanisms governing the abnormal transport behavior in Dirac semimetal BaAgBi and highlights the asymmetric electronic structures as target features to discover/design high-performance thermoelectric materials.