395 research outputs found
Thermoelectric performance of Na-doped GeSe
Recently, hole-doped GeSe materials have been
predicted to exhibit extraordinary thermoelectric performance
owing largely to extremely low thermal conductivity. However,
experimental research on the thermoelectric properties of GeSe
has received less attention. Here, we have synthesized
polycrystalline Na-doped GeSe compounds, characterized their
crystal structure, and measured their thermoelectric properties.
The Seebeck coefficient decreases with increasing Na content up
to x = 0.01 due to an increase in the hole carrier concentration
and remains roughly constant at higher concentrations of Na,
consistent with the electrical resistivity variation. However, the
electrical resistivity is large for all samples, leading to low power
factors. Powder X-ray diffraction and scanning electron
microscopy/energy-dispersive spectrometry results show the
presence of a ternary impurity phase within the GeSe matrix for all doped samples, which suggests that the optimal carrier concentration cannot be reached by doping with Na. Nevertheless, the lattice thermal conductivity and carrier mobility of GeSe is similar to those of polycrystalline samples of the leading thermoelectric material SnSe, leading to quality factors of comparable magnitude. This implies that GeSe shows promise as a thermoelectric material if a more suitable dopant can be found
Increasing thermoelectric performance using coherent transport
We show that coherent electron transport through zero-dimensional systems can
be used to tailor the shape of the system's transmission function. This
quantum-engineering approach can be used to enhance the performance of quantum
dots or molecules in thermal-to-electric power conversion. Specifically, we
show that electron interference in a two-level system can substantially improve
the maximum thermoelectric power and the efficiency at maximum power by
suppressing parasitic charge flow near the Fermi energy, and by reducing
electronic heat conduction. We discuss possible realizations of this approach
in molecular junctions or quantum dots.Comment: 4+ pages, 4 figure
Concept study for a high-efficiency nanowire-based thermoelectric
Materials capable of highly efficient, direct thermal-to-electric energy
conversion would have substantial economic potential. Theory predicts that
thermoelectric efficiencies approaching the Carnot limit can be achieved at low
temperatures in one-dimensional conductors that contain an energy filter such
as a double-barrier resonant tunneling structure. The recent advances in growth
techniques suggest that such devices can now be realized in heterostructured,
semiconductor nanowires. Here we propose specific structural parameters for
InAs/InP nanowires that may allow the experimental observation of near-Carnot
efficient thermoelectric energy conversion in a single nanowire at low
temperature
Thermoelectric three-terminal hopping transport through one-dimensional nanosystems
A two-site nanostructure (e.g, a "molecule") bridging two conducting leads
and connected to a phonon bath is considered. The two relevant levels closest
to the Fermi energy are connected each to its lead. The leads have slightly
different temperatures and chemical potentials and the nanos- tructure is also
coupled to a thermal (third) phonon bath. The 3 x 3 linear transport
("Onsager") matrix is evaluated, along with the ensuing new figure of merit,
and found to be very favorable for thermoelectric energy conversion.Comment: Accepted by Phys. Rev.
Thermoelectric properties of the bismuth telluride nanowires in the constant-relaxation-time approximation
Electronic structure of bismuth telluride nanowires with the growth
directions [110] and [015] is studied in the framework of anisotropic effective
mass method using the parabolic band approximation. The components of the
electron and hole effective mass tensor for six valleys are calculated for both
growth directions. For a square nanowire, in the temperature range from 77 K to
500 K, the dependence of the Seebeck coefficient, the electron thermal and
electrical conductivity as well as the figure of merit ZT on the nanowire
thickness and on the excess hole concentration are investigated in the
constant-relaxation-time approximation. The carrier confinement is shown to
play essential role for square nanowires with thickness less than 30 nm. The
confinement decreases both the carrier concentration and the thermal
conductivity but increases the maximum value of Seebeck coefficient in contrast
to the excess holes (impurities). The confinement effect is stronger for the
direction [015] than for the direction [110] due to the carrier mass difference
for these directions. The carrier confinement increases maximum value of ZT and
shifts it towards high temperatures. For the p-type bismuth telluride nanowires
with growth direction [110], the maximum value of the figure of merit is equal
to 1.3, 1.6, and 2.8, correspondingly, at temperatures 310 K, 390 K, 480 K and
the nanowire thicknesses 30 nm, 15 nm, and 7 nm. At the room temperature, the
figure of merit equals 1.2, 1.3, and 1.7, respectively.Comment: 13 pages, 7 figures, 2 tables, typos added, added references for
sections 2-
Thermoelectric prospects of nanomaterials with spin-orbit surface bands
Nanostructured composites and nanowire arrays of traditional thermoelectrics
like Bi, Bi(1-x)Sb(x) and Bi(2)Te(3) have metallic Rashba surface spin-orbit
bands featuring high mobilities rivaling that of the bulk for which topological
insulator behavior has been proposed. Nearly pure surface electronic transport
has been observed at low temperatures in Bi nanowires with diameter around the
critical diameter, 50 nm, for the semimetal-to semiconductor transition. The
surface contributes strongly to the thermopower, actually dominating for
temperatures T < 100 K in these nanowires. The surface thermopower was found to
be -1 T microvolt/(K^2), a value that is consistent with theory. We show that
surface electronic transport together with boundary phonon scattering leads to
enhanced thermoelectric performance at low temperatures of Bi nanowire arrays.
We compare with bulk n-BiSb alloys, optimized CsBi(4)Te(6) and optimized
Bi(2)Te(3). Surface dominated electronic transport can be expected in
nanomaterials of the other traditional thermoelectrics.Comment: 18 pages, 3 figure
A nonequilibrium Green's function study of thermoelectric properties in single-walled carbon nanotubes
The phonon and electron transport in single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT)
are investigated using the nonequilibrium Green's function approach. In zigzag
SWCNT (, 0) with , the thermal conductance is mainly
attributed to the phonon transport, while the electron only has few percentage
contribution. The maximum value of the figure of merit () is about 0.2 in
this type of SWCNT. The is considerably larger in narrower SWCNT because
of enhanced Seebeck coefficient. is smaller in the armchair SWCNT, where
Seebeck coefficient is small due to zero band gap. It is found that the cluster
isotopic doping can reduce the phonon thermal conductance obviously and enhance
the value of . The uniaxial elongation and compress strain depresses
phonons in whole frequency region, leading to the reduction of the phonon
thermal conductance in whole temperature range. Interestingly, the elongation
strain can affect the phonon transport more seriously than the compress strain,
because the high frequency mode is completely filtered out under elongation
strain . The strain also has important effect on the subband
edges of the electron band structure by smoothing the steps in the electron
transmission function. The is decreased by strain as the reduction in the
electronic conductance overcomes the reduction in the thermal conductance.Comment: 30 pages, 15 figs, accepted by J. Appli. Phy
A simple model for the vibrational modes in honeycomb lattices
The classical lattice dynamics of honeycomb lattices is studied in the
harmonic approximation. Interactions between nearest neighbors are represented
by springs connecting them. A short and necessary introduction of the lattice
structure is presented. The dynamical matrix of the vibrational modes is then
derived, and its eigenvalue problem is solved analytically. The solution may
provide deeper insight into the nature of the vibrational modes. Numerical
results for the vibrational frequencies are presented. To show that how
effective our method used for the case of honeycomb lattice is, we also apply
it to triangular and square lattice structures. A few suggested problems are
listed in the concluding section.Comment: 9 pages, 12 figures, submitted to American Journal of Physic
Pressure effects on the transport coefficients of Ba(Fe1-xCox)2As2
We report the temperature dependence of the resistivity and thermoelectric
power under hydrostatic pressure of the itinerant antiferromagnet BaFe2As2 and
the electron-doped superconductor Ba(Fe0.9Co0.1)2As2. We observe a hole-like
contribution to the thermopower below the structural-magnetic transition in the
parent compound that is suppressed in magnitude and temperature with pressure.
Pressure increases the contribution of electrons to transport in both the doped
and undoped compound. In the 10% Co-doped sample, we used a two-band model for
thermopower to estimate the carrier concentrations and determine the effect of
pressure on the band structure
Lorenz function of BiTe/SbTe superlattices
Combining first principles density functional theory and semi-classical
Boltzmann transport, the anisotropic Lorenz function was studied for
thermoelectric BiTe/SbTe superlattices and their bulk
constituents. It was found that already for the bulk materials BiTe
and SbTe, the Lorenz function is not a pellucid function on charge
carrier concentration and temperature. For electron-doped
BiTe/SbTe superlattices large oscillatory deviations
for the Lorenz function from the metallic limit were found even at high charge
carrier concentrations. The latter can be referred to quantum well effects,
which occur at distinct superlattice periods
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