Multidimensional nanoscopic approaches to new thermoelectric materials

Dudis, Douglas S.; Ferguson, J. B.; Check, Michael H.; Schmidt, Joel E.; Kemp, Evan R.; Robbins, Thomas; Shumaker, Joseph A.; Chen, Chenggang; Seibel, Harry A.

doi:10.1117/12.852182

Cited by 2 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 16 publications

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“…For example, a ZT value of ~0.38 has been reported for iodine-doped polyacytelene [ 123 ] and the value is 0.25 in poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) [ 124 ]. The TE properties in nanostructured organic materials such as organic films [ 125 ], chain-like polymer structures [ 126 ], organic hybrid materials [ 127 ], and self-assembled molecular nanowires that are composed of one-dimensional (1D) stacks of planar building blocks loosely held together [ 128 ] have been studied experimentally. There are not many theoretical works for potentially high-efficiency organic TE materials.…”

Section: Nanocomposites For Thermoelectricitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric Transport in Nanocomposites

Liu

Zhou

et al. 2017

Materials

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Thermoelectric materials which can convert energies directly between heat and electricity are used for solid state cooling and power generation. There is a big challenge to improve the efficiency of energy conversion which can be characterized by the figure of merit (ZT). In the past two decades, the introduction of nanostructures into bulk materials was believed to possibly enhance ZT. Nanocomposites is one kind of nanostructured material system which includes nanoconstituents in a matrix material or is a mixture of different nanoconstituents. Recently, nanocomposites have been theoretically proposed and experimentally synthesized to be high efficiency thermoelectric materials by reducing the lattice thermal conductivity due to phonon-interface scattering and enhancing the electronic performance due to manipulation of electron scattering and band structures. In this review, we summarize the latest progress in both theoretical and experimental works in the field of nanocomposite thermoelectric materials. In particular, we present various models of both phonon transport and electron transport in various nanocomposites established in the last few years. The phonon-interface scattering, low-energy electrical carrier filtering effect, and miniband formation, etc., in nanocomposites are discussed.

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Section: Nanocomposites For Thermoelectricitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric Transport in Nanocomposites

Liu

Zhou

et al. 2017

Materials

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“…The Journal of Physical Chemistry C ARTICLE nanowires (NWs) that are composed of 1D stacks of planar building blocks loosely held together by van der Waals or πÀπ interactions. 29 These 1D molecular NWs, also known as molecule metals (semiconductors), charge transfer salts, or π-stacked organic semiconductors, are expected to be excellent TE materials because the thermal conductivity along the stacking direction could be very small due to the interfaceÀphonon scattering and the Seebeck coefficient could be very large due to the narrow and sharp density of states. 29 In comparison to the ever-increasing experimental efforts, there are very limited theoretical works that can be used to predict TE properties and to guide the search for potentially high-efficiency organic TE materials.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…More interestingly, advances in organic materials synthesis render the possibility of synthesizing self-assembled molecular nanowires (NWs) that are composed of 1D stacks of planar building blocks loosely held together by van der Waals or π–π interactions . These 1D molecular NWs, also known as molecule metals (semiconductors), charge transfer salts, or π-stacked organic semiconductors, are expected to be excellent TE materials because the thermal conductivity along the stacking direction could be very small due to the interface–phonon scattering and the Seebeck coefficient could be very large due to the narrow and sharp density of states …”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermoelectric Properties of Molecular Nanowires

2011

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Recently there has been an increasing interest in using organic materials for thermoelectric applications due to the noteworthy advantages of mechanical flexibility, low-cost synthesis, and solution processability. While the thermal conductivity of organic semiconductors is known to be small, very few theoretical works are available to predict thermoelectric properties of organic semiconductors and guide experimental efforts. In this work, we studied the thermoelectric properties (electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient, and power factor) of quasi-one-dimensional (Q1D) self-assembled molecular nanowires (NWs) based on a rigorous evaluation of the Kubo formula using the Holstein model. The molecular NWs are composed of either one-dimensional conducting polymer chains, coupled by covalent bonds, or linear stacks of planar building blocks, held together by van der Waals or π–π interactions; these are also known as molecule metals (or semiconductors), charge transfer salts, or π-stacked organic semiconductors. The dependence of thermoelectric properties on a variety of physical parameters, including intersite coupling, electron–phonon interaction, chemical potential (doping concentration), and temperature, are systematically studied. We found that the thermoelectric properties are strongly affected by the intersite coupling and the dielectric constant. If the phonon thermal conductivity is assumed to be 0.2 W/mK, the thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of a molecular NW can reach 15.2, which is much larger than the best known inorganic thermoelectric materials obtained so far. Finally, we applied our model to study the thermoelectric properties of 1D polymer chains of P3HT and PEDOT:PSS. The power factor reaches 500 μW/cmK for a PEDOT:PSS chain. This study indicates that low-dimensional conducting polymers could be promising high-ZT materials. The theoretical study presented in this work could be useful for guiding the searchfor high-efficiency thermoelectric materials that are potentially low-cost and compatible with environmental-friendly processing.

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Multidimensional nanoscopic approaches to new thermoelectric materials

Cited by 2 publications

References 16 publications

Thermoelectric Transport in Nanocomposites

Thermoelectric Transport in Nanocomposites

Thermoelectric Properties of Molecular Nanowires

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