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Impurity-induced spin density wave in the thermoelectric layered cobaltite [Ca2CoO3]0.62[CoO2]

Motoya Takenaka*, Shogo Yoshida†, Yoshiki J. Sato‡, and Ryuji Okazaki

  • Department of Physics and Astronomy, Tokyo University of Science, Noda 278-8510, Japan

  • *Contact author: 6224522@ed.tus.ac.jp
  • †Contact author: s_yoshida@rs.tus.ac.jp
  • ‡Present address: Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Saitama University, Saitama 338-8570, Japan.
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Phys. Rev. Materials 9, 105405 – Published 31 October, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/q6tk-52dc

Abstract

We investigate the Sn-substitution effect on the thermoelectric transport properties of the layered cobaltite [Ca2CoO3]0.62[CoO2] single crystals, which exhibit a nonmonotonic temperature variation of the electrical resistivity and the Seebeck coefficient owing to the complex electronic and magnetic states. We find that the onset temperature of the short-range spin-density-wave (SDW) formation increases with the substituted Sn content, indicating the impurity-induced stabilization of the SDW order, reminiscent of the disorder/impurity-induced spin order in the cuprate superconductors. The Seebeck coefficient is well related to such impurity effects, as it is slightly enhanced below the onset temperatures, implying a decrease in the carrier concentration due to a pseudogap formation associated with the SDW ordering. We discuss the site-dependent substitution effects including earlier studies, and suggest that substitution to the conducting CoO2 layers is essential to increase the onset temperature, consistent with the impurity-induced SDW picture realized in the conducting layers with the cylindrical Fermi surface.

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Phys. Rev. Materials 9, 105405– Published 31 October, 2025
  • Received 5 June 2025
  • Revised 6 October 2025
  • Accepted 15 October 2025
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