Unconventional aspects of electronic transport in delafossite oxides

Abstract

The electronic transport properties of the delafossite oxides ${\text{ABO}}_2$ are usually understood in terms of two well-separated entities, namely the triangular ${\text{A}}^{+}$ and (${\text{BO}}_2{)}^{-}$ layers. Here, we review several cases among this extensive family of materials where the transport depends on the interlayer coupling and displays unconventional properties. We review the doped thermoelectrics based on ${\text{CuRhO}}_2$ and ${\text{CuCrO}}_2$, which show a high-temperature recovery of Fermi-liquid transport exponents, as well as the highly anisotropic metals ${\text{PdCoO}}_2$, ${\text{PtCoO}}_2$, and ${\text{PdCrO}}_2$, where the sheer simplicity of the Fermi surface leads to unconventional transport. We present some of the theoretical tools that have been used to investigate these transport properties and review what can and cannot be learned from the extensive set of electronic structure calculations that have been performed.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Delafossites
• resistivity
• thermopower
• Nernst effect
• electronic structure
• anisotropic materials
• magnetism

Classification:

• 50 Energy Materials
• 105 Low-Dimension (1D/2D) materials
• 106 Metallic materials
• 206 Energy conversion / transport / storage / recovery
• 401 1st principle calculations
• 203 Magnetics / Spintronics / Superconductors

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful for collaborations and discussions with numerous colleagues, especially E. Guilmeau, C. Hicks, K.-H. Höck, T. Kopp, S. Kremer, D. Ledue, C. Martin, M. Poienar, W. C. Sheets, and Ch. Simon. Figures 1 and 9 were generated using the XCrysDen software (Ref. 111).

Notes

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the French Agence Nationale de la Recherche (ANR), through the program Investissements d’Avenir (ANR-10-LABX-09-01), LabEx EMC3, and the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft through SFB 484 and TRR 80.