TY - JOUR
T1 - Quantum Effects in the Thermoelectric Power Factor of Low-Dimensional Semiconductors
AU - Hung, Nguyen T.
AU - Hasdeo, Eddwi H.
AU - Nugraha, Ahmad R.T.
AU - Dresselhaus, Mildred S.
AU - Saito, Riichiro
N1 - Funding Information:
N.T.H. and A.R.T.N. acknowledge the Interdepartmental Doctoral Degree Program for Multidimensional Materials Science Leaders in Tohoku University. R.S. acknowledges MEXT (Japan) Grants No. 25107005 and No.25286005. M.S.D. acknowledges support from NSF (USA) Grant No.DMR-1507806.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 American Physical Society.
PY - 2016/7/15
Y1 - 2016/7/15
N2 - We theoretically investigate the interplay between the confinement length L and the thermal de Broglie wavelength Λ to optimize the thermoelectric power factor of semiconducting materials. An analytical formula for the power factor is derived based on the one-band model assuming nondegenerate semiconductors to describe quantum effects on the power factor of the low-dimensional semiconductors. The power factor is enhanced for one- and two-dimensional semiconductors when L is smaller than Λ of the semiconductors. In this case, the low-dimensional semiconductors having L smaller than their Λ will give a better thermoelectric performance compared to their bulk counterpart. On the other hand, when L is larger than Λ, bulk semiconductors may give a higher power factor compared to the lower dimensional ones.
AB - We theoretically investigate the interplay between the confinement length L and the thermal de Broglie wavelength Λ to optimize the thermoelectric power factor of semiconducting materials. An analytical formula for the power factor is derived based on the one-band model assuming nondegenerate semiconductors to describe quantum effects on the power factor of the low-dimensional semiconductors. The power factor is enhanced for one- and two-dimensional semiconductors when L is smaller than Λ of the semiconductors. In this case, the low-dimensional semiconductors having L smaller than their Λ will give a better thermoelectric performance compared to their bulk counterpart. On the other hand, when L is larger than Λ, bulk semiconductors may give a higher power factor compared to the lower dimensional ones.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.036602
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevLett.117.036602
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84978879680
SN - 0031-9007
VL - 117
JO - Physical Review Letters
JF - Physical Review Letters
IS - 3
M1 - 036602
ER -