High-temperature thermoelectric behavior of lead telluride

Usefulness of a material in thermoelectric devices is temperature specific. The central problem in thermoelectric material research is the selection of materials with high figure-of-merit in the given temperature range of operation. It is of considerable interest to know the utility range of the material, which is decided by the degrading effect of minority carrier conduction. Lead telluride is among the best-known materials for use in the temperature range 400–900 K. This paper presents a detailed theoretical investigation of the role of minority carriers in degrading the thermoelectric properties of lead telluride and outlines the temperature range for optimal performance.     

块体TaP 极大磁阻及量子振荡特性研究

Weyl 半金属因其载流子满足外尔运动方程, 表现出高迁移率、 极大磁阻等新奇量子物性, 从而在无耗散电子器件应用中具有广泛应用前景. 在本文中, 我们系统研究了块体 TaP 样品的磁电输运特性, 获得了高达106 %极大的磁阻特性和显著的SdH 振荡特性. 结合TaP 样品载流子随温度的变化行为, 我们进一步揭示了块体TaP 样品的极大磁阻的物理起源, 在低温下, 其主要来源于样品费米面附近近似补偿的空穴和电子, 而在高温下则主要来源自块体TaP 样品中增强的电子散射作用. 我们的实验结果为理解 Weyl 半金属新奇量子输运特性和器件设计开发提供了实验参考.     

Resonant interband raman scattering in metals and semimetals

A resonance has been observed in the Raman cross section for scattering from intralayer phonons in the quasi two-dimensional, metallic graphite intercalation compounds. The resonance is found to occur for photon energies which coincide with the threshold for electronic interband absorption. The cross section is observed to correlate with the frequency derivative |dϵ₂/dω|², where ϵ₂ is the imaginary part of the dielectric function. Theoretical calculations suggests the resonance should be observed in all Raman-active metals and semimetals.     

Tunable anisotropic anomalous Nernst effect and orbital magnetization in Floquet Weyl semimetals

Weyl semimetals and nodal line semimetals display a host of novel properties. Floquet Weyl semimetals with tunable Weyl points can be obtained from nodal line semimetals under the circularly polarized off-resonant light. Here we theoretically investigate the anomalous Nernst effect and orbital magnetization in Floquet Weyl semimetals. Due to the anisotropy of the band structure in Floquet Weyl semimetals, highly anisotropic Berry phase mediated anomalous Nernst effect and orbital magnetization in the absence of magnetic field are observed, indicating orientation-dependent applications in the design of nanodevices. The amplitude and sign of anomalous Nernst coefficient and orbital magnetization can be tuned by the light direction, amplitude and polarization. The effect of the chemical potential on anomalous Nernst coefficient and orbital magnetization is also discussed. The light-modulated anomalous Nernst effect and orbital magnetization make Floquet Weyl semimetals potential candidates for thermoelectric devices.     

Photo- and Thermoelectric Phenomena in Two-Dimensional Topological Insulators and Semimetals Based on HgTe Quantum Wells (Scientific Summary)

JETP Letters - Experimental studies of photo- and thermoelectric phenomena in two-dimensional topological insulators and semimetals based on HgTe quantum wells have been briefly reviewed.     

Account of Thermal Flow Through Metal-Semimetal BiSb Contact Boundary for Determination of EHF Detector Volt-Watt Sensitivity

Bismuth, antimony and its alloys are the typical representatives of a class of semimetals, which electric conductance is lower in 10²-10³ times, than of usual well conducting an electrical current metals. The alloys bismuth with antimony have semi-conductor properties in wide area of compositions at temperatures below 77 °K. The semimetals are rather perspective materials from the point of view of their probable application in various devices [1,2,3].In present time the semimetal alloys BiSb have wide application in thermoelectric generators and refrigerators. In work [3] the opportunity of use of semimetals BiSb with percentage content of Bi and Sb from 8 % up to 25 % was shown as high-sensitivity and of small inertion indicators of the mm range radiation where thermoelectric effect is used. The principle of action of such indicators is based on occurrence of temperature gradient in a semimetal crystal BiSb that has two contacts of the various area with flowing electrical current. Basic element of such device is the dot contact metal - semimetal. One of the main characteristics is volt-watt sensitivity of metal-semimetal BiSb contact which calculating is shown in present work.     

Thermoelectric Figure-of-Merit Calculations in Heavily Doped p-Type Lead Telluride

The thermoelectric properties of heavily doped p-PbTe have been studied theoretically in the temperature range from 300 to 900 K. Calculations are based on a three-band model of the PbTe spectrum that takes the transport of electrons and light holes into account in the L-extrema and heavy holes in the Σ-extrema. On the basis of the Boltzmann kinetic equation, a complete set of relevant kinetic characteristics, including the electrical and thermal conductivities, the Seebeck coefficient, and the thermoelectric figure-of-merit ZT has been calculated. All calculated thermoelectric quantities agree well with the available experimental data in the entire temperature interval from 300 to 900 K. The calculation reproduces a significant increase in the thermoelectric figure-of-merit to the value ZT = 1.2 which has been recently detected experimentally in heavily doped p-PbTe samples.     

Effect of the band structure on the thermoelectric properties of a semiconductor

The dependence of the thermoelectric parameters of a material on the band position and carrier effective masses is studied theoretically. The optimum parameters providing an increase in the thermoelectric figure-of-merit are specified. The results obtained are applied to the n-type Mg₂Si-Mg₂Sn solid solutions, in which the complex structure of the conduction band is one of the factors responsible for an increase in the thermoelectric efficiency.     

Effect of the incoherent scattering of polaritons on the dynamics of stimulated polariton-polariton scattering in GaAs microcavities

It has been found that interband illumination strongly affects the dynamics of parametric polariton scattering in planar GaAs microcavities under resonant photoexcitation above the inflection point of the polariton dispersion curve: illumination with a power density of about 0.1% of the resonance value reduces the threshold density for the appearance of stimulated scattering by more than 15%. It has been shown that the effect is attributed to a change in the resonance energy of the pumped mode due to an increase in the density of long-lived exciton-like polaritons formed owing to the scattering of resonantly-excited polaritons on photoexcited free carriers.     

Facile synthesis of nanostructured n-type SiGe alloys with enhanced thermoelectric performance using rapid solidification employing melt spinning followed by spark plasma sintering

SiGe alloy is widely used thermoelectric materials for high temperature thermoelectric generator applications. However, its high thermoelectric performance has been thus far realized only in alloys synthesized employing mechanical alloying techniques, which are time-consuming and employ several materials processing steps. In the current study, for the first time, we report an enhanced thermoelectric figure-of-merit (ZT) ∼ 1.1 at 900 °C in n-type Si₈₀Ge₂₀ nano-alloys, synthesized using a facile and up-scalable methodology consisting of rapid solidification at high optimized cooling rate ∼ 3.4 × 10⁷ K/s, employing melt spinning followed by spark plasma sintering of the resulting nano-crystalline melt-spun ribbons. This enhancement in ZT > 20% over its bulk counterpart, owes its origin to the nano-crystalline microstructure formed at high cooling rates, which results in crystallite size ∼7 nm leading to high density of grain boundaries, which scatter heat-carrying phonons. This abundant scattering resulted in a very low thermal conductivity ∼2.1 Wm⁻¹K⁻¹, which corresponds to ∼50% reduction over its bulk counterpart and is amongst the lowest reported thus far in n-type SiGe alloys. The synthesized samples were characterized using X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy, based on which the enhancement in their thermoelectric performance has been discussed.     

Quasiparticle lifetime in a two-dimensional semimetal

The quasiparticle lifetime in a two-dimensional direct band semimetal limited by inelastic Coulomb scattering has been calculated in the case where two types of charge carriers are present. It has been shown that the electron lifetime at low and high concentrations of holes is mainly determined by the electron-hole and electron-electron scattering, respectively.     

Numerical simulation of the transport properties of indium antimonide

A systematic investigation of the behavior of the transport coefficients of n-InSb over wide ranges of temperatures and concentrations of dopant atoms has been performed using the numerical solution of the Boltzmann transport equation. The thermoelectric characteristics of indium antimonide have been analyzed. The influence of different mechanisms of scattering of charge carriers on the transport coefficients and efficiency of thermoelectric energy conversion has been considered. The nature of the specific features of the temperature and concentration dependence of the transport and thermoelectric properties of n-InSb has been revealed.     

InP纳米颗粒的超快动力学和光学非线性

通过飞秒泵浦-探测方法测量了波长为800 nm时InP半导体纳米颗粒激发态的瞬态动力学过程。观察到一个快速的光致漂白建立和一个漂白的恢复过程,分析饱和吸收的来源可能是带填充效应引起跃迁的饱和吸收。对于漂白恢复中的快过程是由于自由载流子的弛豫,而慢成分是由于光激发载流子在很短的时间内受陷于表面态形成的限域载流子的弛豫。通过飞秒光克尔效应(OKE)方法测量材料的超快非线性响应曲线,计算了材料的光学三阶非线性极化率,分析了非线性的来源。     

Effect of constant-energy surface anisotropy on the thermoelectric figure-of-merit of the n-Bi2 (Te,Se,S)3 solid solutions

A study is reported of the thermoelectric and galvanomagnetic properties of n-Bi₂Te_3−x−y Se_xSe_y solid solutions for 0.12⩽x⩽0.36 and 0.12⩽y⩽0.21 within the 80–300 K temperature region. The thermoelectric figure-of-merit Z has been found to correlate with the parameters of the many-valley energy-band model including anisotropic carrier scattering. It is shown that a decrease in the constant-energy surface anisotropy and scattering anisotropy results in a growth of Z for optimum carrier concentrations in the solid solution. Fiz. Tverd. Tela (St. Petersburg) 41, 187–192 (February 1999)     

Calculation of the thermoelectric characteristics of n-and p-type PbTe using a three-band electron spectrum

In this paper we study the thermoelectric properties of n-and p-type PbTe theoretically in a wide temperature interval of 300 to 900 K. A three-band model of the PbTe electron-energy spectrum was used in these calculations for the first time. The full set of the relevant kinetic characteristics is calculated, including the electrical and thermal conductivities, as well as the Seebeck coefficient and the thermoelectric figure-of-merit. The calculated thermoelectric quantities are in good agreement with the available experimental data.     

Energy filtration of charge carriers in a nanostructured material based on bismuth telluride

The dependences of the electrical conductivity and thermopower on the size of grains in a nanocrystalline material based on Bi₂Te₃-Sb₂Te₃ solid solutions of the p type have been investigated theoretically and experimentally. The relaxation time in the case of hole scattering by nanograin boundaries in an isotropic polycrystal has been calculated taking into account the energy dependence of the probability of tunneling of charge carriers and the dependence of the scattering intensity on the nanograin size L _n . A decrease in the probability of boundary scattering with an increase in the energy of charge carriers leads to an increase in the thermopower. The dependences of the thermopower and electrical conductivity on the nanograin size, which have been obtained taking into account the boundary scattering and scattering by acoustic phonons, are in good agreement with experimental data. For the material under consideration, the thermopower coefficient increases by 10–20% compared to the initial solid solution at L _n = 20–30 nm. This can lead to an increase in the thermoelectric figure of merit by 20–40%, provided that the decrease in the electrical conductivity and the decrease in the lattice thermal conductivity compensate each other. Despite the absence of a complete compensation, it has been possible to increase the thermoelectric figure of merit for the samples under investigation to ZT = 1.10–1.12.     

Interpretation of temperature-dependent thermoelectric power behaviour of La0.67Ba0.33MnO3 manganites

The temperature dependence of the thermoelectric power S(T) in polycrystalline La_0.67Ba_0.33MnO₃ has been investigated. In the ferromagnetic regime, the phonon thermoelectric power is evaluated by incorporating the scattering of phonons with impurities, grain boundaries, charge carriers and phonon. The Mott expression is used to compute the electron diffusive thermoelectric power (S_c^diff.) using Fermi energy as electron-free parameter. The S_c^diff infers linear temperature dependence and S_ph^drag increases exponentially with temperature, which is an artefact of various operating scattering mechanisms. The behaviour of the S(T) is determined by competition among the several operating scattering mechanisms for the heat carriers and a balance between carrier diffusion and phonon drag contributions in the La_0.67Ba_0.33MnO₃. Numerical analysis of thermoelectric power of the present model shows similar results as those revealed from experiments.     

Electron scattering in CdxHg1−xTe

Experimental studies of the electron mobility in Cdinx,Hgin1?xTe/0x/0.33, 10¹⁵ cm^?3n10¹⁸ cm^?3, 4.2 K ?T ?300 K/and of the thermoelectric power of intrinsic HgTe from 300 K down to 5 K are reported. These results are interpreted in terms of calculations based on the variational solution of the Boltzmann equation. Analysis shows that in pure samples at low temperatures, the electron mobility is limited by ionized donors, heavy holes, and, in some cases, unresolved defect scattering. In the doped samples with x0̆.1, disorder scattering also becomes significant. Polar-optical phonon scattering is dominant at high temperatures. The sharp decrease of mobility in the region 20–40 K, which occurs for pure samples with x0̌.14, is explained by interband optical phonon scattering. The thermoelectric power of intrinsic HgTe is strongly affected by phonon-drag of holes at low temperatures and by electron-electron scattering at high temperatures.     

Quantum transport in topological semimetals under magnetic fields

Topological semimetals are three-dimensional topological states of matter, in which the conduction and valence bands touch at a finite number of points, i.e., the Weyl nodes. Topological semimetals host paired monopoles and antimonopoles of Berry curvature at the Weyl nodes and topologically protected Fermi arcs at certain surfaces. We review our recent works on quantum transport in topological semimetals, according to the strength of the magnetic field. At weak magnetic fields, there are competitions between the positive magnetoresistivity induced by the weak anti-localization effect and negative magnetoresistivity related to the nontrivial Berry curvature. We propose a fitting formula for the magnetoconductivity of the weak anti-localization. We expect that the weak localization may be induced by inter-valley effects and interaction effect, and occur in double-Weyl semimetals. For the negative magnetoresistance induced by the nontrivial Berry curvature in topological semimetals, we show the dependence of the negative magnetoresistance on the carrier density. At strong magnetic fields, specifically, in the quantum limit, the magnetoconductivity depends on the type and range of the scattering potential of disorder. The high-field positive magnetoconductivity may not be a compelling signature of the chiral anomaly. For long-range Gaussian scattering potential and half filling, the magnetoconductivity can be linear in the quantum limit. A minimal conductivity is found at the Weyl nodes although the density of states vanishes there.     

Tuning Thermal Conductivity in Si Nanowires with Patterned Structures

Tuning the thermal conductivity of silicon nanowires(Si-NWs)is essential for realization of future thermoelectric devices.The corresponding management of thermal transport is strongly related to the scattering of phonons,which are the primary heat carriers in Si-NWs.Using the molecular dynamics method,we find that the scattering of phonons from internal body defects is stronger than that from surface structures in the low-porosity range.Based on our simulations,we propose the concept of an exponential decay in thermal conductivity with porosity,specifically in the low-porosity range.In contrast,the thermal conductivity of Si-NWs with a higher porosity approaches the amorphous limit,and is insensitive to specific phonon scattering processes.Our findings contribute to a better understanding of the tuning of thermal conductivity in Si-NWs by means of patterned nanostructures,and may provide valuable insights into the optimal design of one-dimensional thermoelectric materials.