Some thermomagnetic transport effects of Cd3P2

In this paper for the first time measurements are presented of the transverse Nernst effect, the Righi-Leduc effect and the Maggi-Righi-Leduc effect in cadmium phosphide. The measurements were performed on unoriented Cd₃P₂ single crystals, with electron concentrations in the range 0.05–1.7 × 10²⁴m^?, at 110 and 300 K in magnetic fields up to 1.8 $\text{Wb}\text{m}{}^2$. We also measured the room temperature dependence of the zero-field Seebeck coefficient on electron concentration of a large number of undoped and Cu-doped samples. A reversal of sign of the transverse Nernst effect was observed at an electron concentration of about 1.2?1.5 × 10²⁴ m^?3. This reversal of sign and the zero-field Seebeck coefficient vs electron concentration for undoped material can be quantitatively described by a Kane-type conduction band with ?_g = 0.50 eV, m¹_e = 0.040 m_o and a scattering parameter r = ?1. (Optical phonon scattering, if interpreted in a single mode.) This strongly confirms the results of Radautsan et al. that Cd₃P₂ has a non-parabolic Kane-type conduction band. The Righi-Leduc and Maggi-Righi-Leduc effect measurements at 110 K on samples with high electron concentrations, yielded Lorenz numbers only half their theoretical values, indicating that the electron scattering contains an inelastic contribution.