Enhancing Thermoelectric Performance Using Nonlinear Transport Effects

Scattering theory of nonlinear thermoelectric transport.

We investigate nonlinear transport properties of quantum conductors in response to both electrical and thermal driving forces. Within the scattering approach, we determine the nonequilibrium screening potential of a generic mesoscopic system and find that its response is dictated by particle and entropic injectivities which describe the charge and entropy transfer during transport. We illustrat...

Enhancing Thermoelectric

Engineering Nanostructural Routes for Enhancing Thermoelectric Performance: Bulk to Nanoscale

Thermoelectricity is a very important phenomenon, especially its significance in heat-electricity conversion. If thermoelectric devices can be effectively applied to the recovery of the renewable energies, such as waste heat and solar energy, the energy shortage, and global warming issues may be greatly relieved. This review focusses recent developments on the thermoelectric performance of a lo...

Nonlinear spin-thermoelectric transport in two-dimensional topological insulators

Sun-Yong Hwang,1,2 Rosa López,1,3 Minchul Lee,4 and David Sánchez1,3 1Institut de Fı́sica Interdisciplinària i Sistemes Complexos IFISC (CSIC-UIB), E-07122 Palma de Mallorca, Spain 2Pohang University of Science and Technology (POSTECH), Pohang 790-784, Korea 3Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106-4030, USA 4Department of Applied Physic...

Enhancing the thermoelectric power factor by using invisible dopants.

Nanoparticle dopants that are invisible to conduction electrons and have sharp dips in their electron scattering rate versus electron energy close to the Fermi level. Replacement of such dopants with traditional impurities results in simultaneous enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient and the electron mobility and therefore a large enhancement in the thermoelectric power factor can be achieved.