Single crystal growth, structural and transport properties of bad metal RhSb2*

Abstract

We have successfully grown an arsenopyrite marcasite type RhSb2 single crystal, and systematically investigated its crystal structure, electrical transport, magnetic susceptibility, heat capacity, and thermodynamic properties. We found that the temperature-dependent resistivity exhibits a bad metal behavior with a board peak around 200 K. The magnetic susceptibility of RhSb2 shows diamagnetism from 300 K to 2 K. The low-temperature specific heat shows a metallic behavior with a quite small electronic specific-heat coefficient. No phase transition is observed in both specific heat and magnetic susceptibility data. The Hall resistivity measurements show that the conduction carriers are dominated by electrons with n e = 8.62 × 1018 cm−3 at 2 K, and the electron carrier density increases rapidly above 200 K without change sign. Combining with ab-initio band structure calculations, we showed that the unusual peak around 200 K in resistivity is related to the distinct electronic structure of RhSb2. In addition, a large thermopower S(T) about –140 μV/K is observed around 200 K, which might be useful for future thermoelectric applications.