Thermoelectric properties of the Kondo insulator FeSb2

Recently it was shown [A. Bentien, S. Johnsen, G. K. H. Madsen, B. B. Iversen, F. Steglich, Europhys. Lett. 80, 17008 (2007)], that the strongly correlated Kondo insulator FeSb2 exhibits a colossal Seebeck coefficient; however, due to its large lattice thermal conductivity, the dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit (zT) is only 0.005 at 12 K. This experimental result motivate us to perform a theoretical study of the thermoelectric properties of Kondo insulators, within the framework of the X-boson approach [R. Franco, M. S. Figueira, M. E. Foglio, Phys. Rev. B 66, 045112 (2002)] for the periodic Anderson model. We consider a set of parameters adequate for describing the compound FeSb2, and we calculate the resistivity, the thermoelectric power (Seebeck coefficient), the charge carrier thermal conductance, the thermoelectric factor power (zT), the Wiedemann-Franz law, the specific heat, and the Sommerfeld's gamma coefficient. The result of the colossal maximum of the Seebeck coefficient, at low temperatures, has the same order of magnitude as the experimental result [A. Bentien, S. Johnsen, G. K. H. Madsen, B. B. Iversen, F. Steglich, Europhys. Lett. 80, 17008 (2007)]. We also show that those temperature region presents an intermediate valence behavior, characterized by a moderate increase of the Sommerfeld's gamma coefficient.