The effect of electron–phonon interaction on the thermoelectric properties of defect zigzag nanoribbons

Abstract

Thermoelectric properties of graphene nanoribbons with periodic edge vacancies and antidot lattice are investigated. The electron-phonon interaction is taken into account in the framework of the Hubbard-Holstein model with the use of the LangFirsov unitary transformation scheme. The electron transmission function, the thermopower and the thermoelectric figure of merit are calculated. We have found that the electron-phonon interaction causes a decrease in the peak values of the thermoelectric figure of merit and the shift of the peak positions closer to the center of the bandgap. The effects are more pronounced for the secondary peaks that appear in the structures with periodic antidot.

Systematic Enhancement of Thermoelectric Figure of Merit in Edge-Engineered Nanoribbons

“…A similar effect was reported for semiconducting electrodes attached to single-molecule junctions . Electron–phonon interaction, which is not considered here, may cause the Seebeck coefficient to diminish and shift toward the band gap, resulting in decreased ZT , particularly in internally disordered systems . This shift would also change the chemical potential that maximizes ZT .…”

Thermoelectric and thermal transport properties of graphene under strong magnetic field

“…However, many observed thermoelectric properties re-mained to be explained. Recent experimental and theoretical work have shown several different strategies to improve the figure of merit ZT [29][30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41][42][43][44]. For graphene under a perpendicular magnetic field, the confinement of electron motion in cyclotron orbital effectively reduce the dimensionality of the electronic states and an enhanced figure of merit is expected.…”

Electronic properties of phosphorene and graphene nanoribbons with edge vacancies in magnetic field

“…In summary, ZPNR's and ZGNR's are highly resistant against the edge vacancies. This makes them good candidates for the thermoelectric applications [24][25][26][27]. Moreover, ZPNR's are suitable for the application as FET.…”