Thermoelectric power of YCo12B6 and GdCo12B6 intermetallics

Abstract

The absolute thermoelectric power S(T) has been measured as a function of temperature for YCo12B6 and GdCo12B6 intermetallics in the temperature range 4.2 to 300 K. The experimental results show that the thermoelectric power is nonlinear below the magnetic transition temperature T-c. A detailed analysis indicates that the main contribution to this nonlinear behavior comes from the scattering mechanism of conduction electrons by the magnetic atoms. We also show that the mean field theoretical model by Richter and Goedsche provides a qualitative explanation for the nonlinear behavior below T-c.