Ideal band shape in the potential thermoelectric material CuAlO2: Comparison to NaxCoO2

A potential thermoelectric material CuAlO2 is theoretically studied. We first construct a model Hamiltonian of CuAlO2 based on the first principles band calculation, and calculate the Seebeck coefficient. Then, we compare the model with that of a well-known thermoelectric material NaxCoO2, and discuss the similarities and the differences. It is found that the two materials are similar from an electronic structure viewpoint in that they have a peculiar pudding-mold type band shape, which is advantageous for thermoelectric materials. There are, however, some differences, and we analyze the origin of the difference from a microscopic viewpoint. The band shape (a very flat band top but with an overall wide bandwidth) of CuAlO2 is found to be even more ideal than that of NaxCoO2, and we predict that once a significant amount of holes is doped in CuAlO2, thermoelectric properties (especially the power factor) even better than those of NaxCoO2 can be expected.