Anisotropic thermoelectric properties of topological semimetal YbMnSb₂ single crystal

Topological materials can be a suitable platform for the study of thermoelectric transport properties due to the high mobility and exotic transport behaviors. Some topological materials are also good thermoelectric materials, for example, Bi₂Te₃ alloys. In this work, we report the thermoelectric properties of topological semimetal YbMnSb₂ single crystal. Although being a semimetal, YbMnSb₂ still show promising Seebeck coefficient due to the much larger contribution of valence band than the conduction band. Large anisotropy is found in resistivity and thermal conductivity, while Seebeck is almost isotropic. Furthermore, we investigate the thermoelectric transport properties under magnetic field, wherein a maximum enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) reached 200 % at 100 K under 9 T. With further reduction of the thermal conductivity by alloying, microstructure engineering et al., we expect better thermoelectric performance. The present work can be instructive for the search of other new high-performing thermoelectric materials.