Thermopower enhancement from engineering the Na_(0.7)CoO₂ interacting fermiology via Fe doping

The sodium cobaltate system Na$_{x}$CoO$_2$ is a prominent representant of strongly correlated materials with promising thermoelectric response. In a combined theoretical and experimental study we show that by doping the Co site of the compound at $x$=0.7 with iron, a further increase of the Seebeck coefficient is achieved. The Fe defects give rise to effective hole doping in the high-thermopower region of larger sodium content $x$. Originally filled hole pockets in the angular-resolved spectral function of the Fe-free material shift to low energy when introducing Fe, leading to a multi-sheet interacting Fermi surface. Because of the higher sensitivity of correlated materials to doping, introducing adequate substitutional defects is thus a promising route to manipulate their thermopower.