Analyses of low-temperature transport and thermoelectric properties of polycrystalline undoped n-ZrNiSn

The temperature dependence data of the electrical conductivity σ(T), the Hall coefficient RH(T), the Seebeck coefficient S(T), and the Nernst coefficient Q(T) on a polycrystalline sample of undoped n-type ZrNiSn reported by Schrade et al. [J. Appl. Phys. 127(4), 045103 (2020)] have been analyzed in a model previously proposed, including both nearest-neighbor hopping and variable-range hopping in an impurity band. Through the simultaneous fits to the temperature dependence data of the four transport coefficients, the effective mass of electrons as well as the deformation potential is deduced together with the ionization energy of the donor level. The validity of the model is confirmed by applying it to the analysis of σ(T), RH(T), and S(T) on another polycrystalline sample of undoped n-type ZrNiSn reported by Hu et al. [ACS Appl. Mater. Interfaces 10(1), 864–872 (2018)].