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Journal ArticleDOI

Improved Thermoelectric Power Factor in Metal-Based Superlattices

Daryoosh Vashaee, +1 more
- 11 Mar 2004 - 
- Vol. 92, Iss: 10, pp 106103-106103
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TLDR
It is shown that metal-based superlattices with tall barriers can achieve a large effective thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT > 5 at room temperature), a key parameter to achieving high performance is the nonconservation of lateral momentum during the thermionic emission process.
Abstract
In this paper we present a detailed theory of electron and thermoelectric transport perpendicular to heterostructure superlattices. This nonlinear transport regime above barriers is also called heterostructure thermionic emission. We show that metal-based superlattices with tall barriers can achieve a large effective thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT > 5 at room temperature). A key parameter to achieving high performance is the nonconservation of lateral momentum during the thermionic emission process. Conservation of lateral momentum is a consequence of translational symmetry in the plane of the superlattice. We also discuss the use of nonplanar barriers and embedded quantum dot structures to achieve high thermoelectric conversion efficiency.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Nanoscale Thermal Transport and Microrefrigerators on a Chip

TL;DR: In this paper, a review of recent advances in nanoscale thermal and thermoelectric transport with an emphasis on the impact on integrated circuit (IC) thermal management is presented.
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Enhanced Thermopower via Carrier Energy Filtering in Solution-Processable Pt–Sb2Te3 Nanocomposites

TL;DR: This work demonstrates the first solution-processable metal-semiconductor nanocomposites with enhanced thermoelectric properties via carrier energy filtering with the possibility of combining a diverse set of n- and p-type semiconductor matrices with nanocrystals to engineer and optimize energy-dependent carrier scattering with the ease of materials processing.
Journal ArticleDOI

Surfactant‐Free Scalable Synthesis of Bi2Te3 and Bi2Se3 Nanoflakes and Enhanced Thermoelectric Properties of Their Nanocomposites

TL;DR: Surfactant-free nanoflakes of n-type Bi2 Te3 and Bi2 Se3 are synthesized in high yields to create nanocomposites with heterostructured nanograins and a maximum ZT (0.7 at 400 K) is achieved with a broad content of 10-15% Bi 2 Se3 in the nanocom composites.
Journal ArticleDOI

Nontoxic and Abundant Copper Zinc Tin Sulfide Nanocrystals for Potential High-Temperature Thermoelectric Energy Harvesting

TL;DR: Extra copper doping during the nanocrystal synthesis introduces a significant improvement in the performance, and electrical and thermal measurements have been performed from 300 to 700 K to understand the electron and phonon transports.
Journal ArticleDOI

Nanostructured materials for thermoelectric applications

TL;DR: This review discusses the various synthetic techniques that can be used in the production of bulk scale nanostructured materials and indicates that with proper optimization, some of these techniques hold promise for producing high efficiency devices.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Thin-film thermoelectric devices with high room-temperature figures of merit

TL;DR: Th thin-film thermoelectric materials are reported that demonstrate a significant enhancement in ZT at 300 K, compared to state-of-the-art bulk Bi2Te3 alloys, and the combination of performance, power density and speed achieved in these materials will lead to diverse technological applications.
Journal ArticleDOI

Quantum dot superlattice thermoelectric materials and devices.

TL;DR: It is demonstrated that improved cooling values relative to the conventional bulk (Bi,Sb)2(Se,Te)3thermoelectric materials using a n-type film in a one-leg thermoelectrics device test setup, which cooled the cold junction 43.7 K below the room temperature hot junction temperature of 299.8 K.
Journal ArticleDOI

Heterostructure integrated thermionic coolers

TL;DR: In this paper, a single-stage room temperature cooling of high power electronic and optoelectronic devices is achieved by selective emission of hot electrons over a barrier layer from the cathode to the anode.
Journal ArticleDOI

Multilayer Thermionic Refrigeration

TL;DR: In this paper, a new method of refrigeration is proposed by thermionic emission of electrons over Schottky barriers between metals and semiconductors, which can have only a small temperature difference.
Journal ArticleDOI

Electronic and thermoelectric transport in semiconductor and metallic superlattices

TL;DR: In this article, a detailed theory of nonisothermal electron transport perpendicular to multilayer superlattice structures is presented, and the currentvoltage and cooling power density are calculated using Fermi-Dirac statistics, density-of-states for a finite quantum well and the quantum mechanical reflection coefficient.
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