The best thermoelectric materials are believed to be heavily doped semiconductors. The presence of a band gap is assumed to be essential to achieve large thermoelectric power factor and figure of merit. In this work, we propose semi-metals with large asymmetry between conduction and valence bands as an alternative class of thermoelectric materials. To illustrate the idea, we study semi-metallic HgTe in details experimentally and theoretically. We employ ab initio calculations with hybrid exchange-correlation functional to accurately describe the electronic band structure in conjunction with the Boltzmann Transport theory to investigate the electronic transport properties. We calculate the lattice thermal conductivity using first principles calculations and evaluate the overall figure of merit. To validate our theoretical approach, we prepare semi-metallic HgTe samples and characterize their transport properties. Our first-principles calculations agree well with the experimental data. We show that intrinsic HgTe, a semimetal with large disparity in its electron and hole masses, has a high thermoelectric power factor that is comparable to the best known thermoelectric materials. Finally, we propose other possible materials with similar band structures as potential candidates for thermoelectric applications.

Studies of catalytic benzene alkenylation using different diimine ligated Rh­(I) acetate complexes and Cu­(OAc)2 as the oxidant revealed statistically identical results in terms of activity and product selectivity. Under ethylene pressure, two representative diimine ligated rhodium­(I) acetate complexes were demonstrated to exchange the diimine ligand with ethylene rapidly to form [Rh­(μ-OAc)­(η2-C2H4)2]2 and free diimine. Thus, it was concluded that diimine ligands are not likely coordinated to the active Rh catalysts under catalytic conditions. At 150 °C under catalytic conditions using commercial Cu­(OAc)2 as the oxidant, [Rh­(μ-OAc)­(η2-C2H4)2]2 undergoes rapid decomposition to form catalytically inactive and insoluble Rh species, followed by gradual dissolution of the insoluble Rh to form the soluble Rh, which is active for styrene production. Thus, the observed induction period under some conditions is likely due to the formation of insoluble Rh (rapid), followed by redissolution of the Rh (slow). The Rh decomposition process can be suppressed and the catalytically active Rh species maintained by using soluble Cu­(II) oxidants or Cu­(OAc)2 that has been preheated. In such cases, an induction period is not observed.

Interplay among various collective electronic states such as charge density wave and superconductivity is of tremendous significance in low-dimensional electron systems. However, the atomistic and physical nature of the electronic structures underlying the interplay of exotic states, which is critical to clarifying its effect on remarkable properties of the electron systems, remains elusive, limiting our understanding of the superconducting mechanism. Here, we show evidence that an ordering of selenium and sulphur atoms surrounding tantalum within star-of-David clusters can boost superconductivity in a layered chalcogenide 1T-TaS 2 À x Se x , which undergoes a superconducting transition in the nearly commensurate charge density wave phase. Advanced electron microscopy investigations reveal that such an ordered superstructure forms only in the x area, where the superconductivity manifests, and is destructible to the occurrence of the Mott metal-insulator transition. The present findings provide a novel dimension in understanding the relationship between lattice and electronic degrees of freedom.

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