Enhancement of the thermoelectric figure of merit in a quantum dot due to external ac field

We investigate the figure of merit of a quantum dot (QD) system irradiated with an external microwave filed by nonequilibrium Green?s function (NGF) technique. Results show that the frequency of microwave field influence the figure of merit ZT significantly. At low temperature, a sharp peak can be observed in the figure of merit ZT as the frequency of ac field increases. As the frequency varies, several zero points and resonant peaks emerge in the figure of merit ZT. By adjusting the frequency of the microwave field, we can obtain high ZT. The figure of merit ZT increases with the decreasing of linewidth function Γ. In addition, Wiedemann–Franz law does not hold, particularly in the low frequency region due to multi-photon emission and absorption. Some novel thermoelectric properties are also found in two-level QD system.     

Acousto-optic interaction in an InI single crystal

The acousto-optic figure of merit M ₂ of the InI single crystal has been measured using the Dixon method at a laser-radiation wavelength of 1.15 μm. The maximum measured value was M ₂ = 1100 × 10^–15 s³/kg. It is comparable with the figures of merit of the most efficient acousto-optic materials: TeO₂ and KRS-5. The velocities of longitudinal ultrasonic waves along the basic directions of the InI single crystal have also been measured.     

The linear electro-optic effect in CdS0.75Se0.25

The electro-optic coefficient of CdS_0.75 Se_0.25 is measured at the frequency of the He-Ne laser light and the application of this crystal in light modulators is discussed. The figure of merit is found to be |³_or_c| = 7 × 10^-9 cm/V at room temperature. The voltage required to achieve one half wave retardation is 9 kV.     

z-Scan characterization of zwitterionic chromophores for optoelectronic switching

Single beam z-scan measurements have been made on films containing amorphous polycarbonate and the zwitterionic chromophore, PYR-3, that has a very high second order nonlinear optical (NLO) figure of merit. The third order NLO figure of merit is ≈1.6 at 1030 nm and is comparable to that found in organic compounds optimized for high n ₂ values. The two-photon absorption coefficient is 2.1×10⁻¹² m/W, which is very low and advantageous for NLO device applications. The third order NLO refractive index is −1.4×10⁻¹⁸ m²/W.     

Improving the thermoelectric properties of carbon nanotubes through introducing graphene nanosprings

Carbon nanotube (CNT) is a typical one-dimensional nanomaterial containing sp² hybridization states. In this paper, we investigate the ballistic thermoelectric performance of CNTs incorporating graphene nanosprings by using non-equilibrium Green's function. The calculations reveal that the thermoelectric figure of merit could be obviously improved by introducing graphene nanosprings, which is about ten times of that of pristine CNTs at 700 K. Such enhancement is mainly attributed to the remarkable suppression of phononic and electronic thermal conductance and improvement of Seebeck coefficient. In addition, compared to the zigzag graphene nanospring, introducing of the armchair case possesses better thermoelectric performance. The results presented in this paper indicate that embedding graphene nanospring is a viable method to optimize the thermoelectric performance of CNTs and could provide useful theoretical guidance for design and fabrication of CNTs-based thermoelectric devices.     

Converting heat to electricity by a graphene stripe with heavy chiral fermions

A conversion of thermal energy into electricity is considered in the electricallypolarized graphene stripes with zigzag edges where the heavy chiral fermion (HCF) statesare formed. The stripes are characterized by a high electric conductance G _e and by a significantSeebeck coefficient S. The electric current in the stripes is induced due toa non-equilibrium thermal injection of “hot” electrons. This thermoelectric generationprocess might be utilized for building of thermoelectric generators with an exceptionallyhigh figure of merit ZδT ?1 and with an appreciable electric power densities ~1 MW/cm².     

Effect of composition and deposition temperature on the characteristics of Ga doped ZnO thin films

ZnO films doped with Ga (GZO) of varying composition were prepared on Corning glass substrate by radio frequency magnetron sputtering at various deposition temperatures of room temperature, 150, 250 and 400 °C, and their temperature dependent photoelectric and structural properties were correlated with Ga composition. With increasing deposition temperature, the Ga content, at which the lowest electrical resistivity and the best crystallinity were observed, decreased. Films with optimal electrical resistivity of 2-3 × 10⁻⁴ Ω cm and with good crystallinity were obtained in the substrate temperature range from 150 to 250 °C, and the corresponding C_Ga/(C_Ga + C_Zn) atomic ratio was about 0.049. GZO films grown at room temperature had coarse columnar structure and low optical transmittance, while films deposited at 400 °C yielded the highest figure of merit (FOM) due to very low optical absorption despite rather moderate electrical resistivity slightly higher than 4 × 10⁻⁴ Ω cm. The optimum Ga content at which the maximum figure of merit was obtained decreased with increasing deposition temperature.     

聚对苯撑/LiNi0.5Fe2O4纳米复合热电材料的制备及其性能研究

本文以流变相反应法原位合成了聚对苯撑/LiNi_0.5Fe₂O₄纳米复合热电材料,并对其热电性能进行表征,研究了放电等离子烧结时保温时间对其热电性能的影响.结果发现,复合材料铁氧体颗粒粒径为100---300nm,其外部被一层聚对苯撑膜包覆.电子在Fe²⁺和Fe³⁺之间的跳跃机理在铁氧体电导中占主导作用,因此聚对苯撑/LiNi_0.5Fe₂O₄复合材料具有n型导电特性.随着保温时间增加,复合材料电导率基本不变,但热导率逐渐增大且Seebeck系数逐渐减小,导致热电优值系数降低.由于结合了有机物高电导率和低热导率以及无机材料高赛贝克系数的优点,所制备的复合材料热电性能较单一材料有较大提高.     

DFT investigation on the electronic and thermoelectric properties of ternary semiconductor AgBiS2 for energy conversion application

Via the FP-APW+lo method, we have performed a systematic theoretical study of the structural, electronic and thermoelectric properties of β-AgBiS₂ compound. The estimated structural properties such as cell parameters a and c, c/a ratio and internal parameters are in reasonable agreement with the earlier measured one. From band structure calculations we have found that β-AgBiS₂ is semiconductor with a band gap of 1.23 eV using the TB-mBJ approximation. In addition, the analysis of the total and partial DOS shows a considerable hybridization between Ag ‘d’ states and S ‘p’, Bi ‘s’ states indicating that both Ag-S and Bi-S have covalent character. The main thermoelectric properties such as electrical conductivity, thermo-power, electronic thermal conductivity, power factor and figure of merit are calculated and discussed. We observed that ZT increases when temperature is augmented and reached its maximum of 0.95 and 0.85 at 2 × 10¹⁹ cm⁻³ for p and n-type doping, respectively. Thus, β-AgBiS₂ compound has interesting thermoelectric properties in both p and n-type doping.     

Effect of GZO thickness and annealing temperature on the structural,electrical and optical properties of GZO/Ag/GZO sandwich films

The GZO/Ag/GZO sandwich films were deposited on glass substrates by RF magnetron sputtering of Ga-doped ZnO (GZO) and ion-beam sputtering of Ag at room temperature. The effect of GZO thickness and annealing temperature on the structural, electrical and optical properties of these sandwich films was investigated. The microstructures of the films were studied by X-ray diffraction (XRD). X-ray diffraction measurements indicate that the GZO layers in the sandwich films are polycrystalline with the ZnO hexagonal structure and have a preferred orientation with the c-axis perpendicular to the substrates. For the sandwich film with upper and under GZO thickness of 40 and 30 nm, respectively, it owns the maximum figure of merit of 5.3 × 10⁻² Ω⁻¹ with a resistivity of 5.6 × 10⁻⁵ Ω cm and an average transmittance of 90.7%. The electrical property of the sandwich films is improved by post annealing in vacuum. Comparing with the as-deposited sandwich film, the film annealed in vacuum has a remarkable 42.8% decrease in resistivity. The sandwich film annealed at the temperature of 350 °C in vacuum shows a sheet resistance of 5 Ω/sq and a transmittance of 92.7%, and the figure of merit achieved is 9.3 × 10⁻² Ω⁻¹.     

Application of computerized glow curve deconvolution to determine the spectroscopy of traps in colorless microcline

Kinetic parameters of glow peaks (as many as 14 in the range of 75–575 °C) of colorless microcline have been successfully achieved to a high degree of certainty by resorting to computerized glow curve deconvolution (CGCD) in the framework of kinetics formalism. The second derivative plot of the experimental glow curve is used to locate the hidden glow peaks. The criteria to accept the goodness of fit between the experimental glow curve and the numerically generated best fit curve is judged by statistical test namely, χ²-test. As a cross check, figure of merit (FOM) is also evaluated. The kinetic parameters of the higher temperature trap electrons of colorless microcline are determined by using lower heating rates.     

Investigation of the possibilities for increasing the thermoelectric figure of merit of nanostructured materials based on Bi2Te3-Sb2Te3 solid solutions

The transport coefficients and thermoelectric figure of merit ZT for bulk nanostructured materials based on Bi₂Te₃-Sb₂Te₃ solid solutions have been investigated theoretically. Similar materials prepared by rapid quenching of the melt with the subsequent grinding and sintering contain amorphous and nanocrystalline regions with different sizes of particles. According to the performed estimations, the thermoelectric figure of merit of the amorphous phase can exceed the value of ZT for the initial solid solution by a factor of 2?C3 primarily due to the significant decrease in the thermal conductivity. The effective transport coefficients of the medium as a whole have also been investigated as a function of the parameters of each phase, and the concentration range of the amorphous phase, which corresponds to the effective values ZT > 1, has been determined.     

Comparison and efficiency of materials for summation of photons assisted by energy transfer

Relative and absolute efficients of anti-Stokes phosphors doped with Yb³⁺-Er³⁺ are given, accounting for the fact that concentration of the excitation energy with respect to space, time and wavelength should be considered for such non-linear materials. A figure of merit is then defined which makes the comparison possible, whatever the excitation source is, provided that no saturation takes place.     

High speed all-silicon optical modulator

Electrorefractive effect is experimentally demonstrated in an all-silicon optical structure. A highly doped Si P⁺ layer is embedded in the intrinsic region of a PIN diode integrated in a SOI waveguide. Holes are confined at equilibrium around the P⁺ layer. By applying a reverse bias to the diode, electrical field sweeps the carriers out of the active region. Free carrier concentration variations are responsible for local refractive index variations leading to an effective index variation of the waveguide optical mode and to an optical absorption variation. As a figure of merit, the product V_πL_π, determined from the measured effective index variation, is equal to 3.1 V cm. Furthermore, the device performances have theoretically been investigated. Estimations show that V_πL_π as small as 1 V cm are feasible using optimized structures. Response times lower than 2 ps are predicted, which gives the possibility to achieve very high-speed modulation. Furthermore, a temperature increases from 300 to 400 K does not change the index variation amplitude, and despite the carrier mobility reduction, response times are still lower than 2 ps.     

Z-scan measurement for the nonlinear absorption and the nonlinear refraction of poly1,4-diazophenylene-bridged-tris(8-hydroxy-quinoline) aluminum (PDPAlq3)

The nonlinear optical properties of the poly1,4-diazophenylene-bridged-tris(8-hydroxy-quinoline) aluminum (PDPAlq₃) solution were studied using single beam Z-scan technique with a continuous-wave Diode laser radiation at 657.2 nm with 10 Hz repetition rate. The results show that the solution of PDPAlq₃ exhibits large nonlinear refractive index (n₂ = −1.7642 × 10⁻¹² m²/W) and nonlinear absorption coefficient (β = 1.12 × 10⁻⁶ m/W). The negative sign of the nonlinear refractive index n₂ indicates that the material exhibits self-defocusing optical nonlinearity. The evaluation of the figure of merit (W = 1.8) shows that the solution of PDPAlq₃ is sufficient for application in all-optical switching technology. These results show that the solution of PDPAlq₃ have potential application in nonlinear optics.     

Thermoelectric properties of Cr1−xMoxSi2

The thermoelectric properties of Mo-substituted CrSi₂ were studied. Dense polycrystalline samples of Mo-substituted hexagonal C40 phase Cr_1−xMo_xSi₂ (x=0–0.30) were fabricated by arc melting followed by spark plasma sintering. Mo substitution substantially increases the carrier concentration. The lattice thermal conductivity of CrSi₂ at room temperature was reduced from 9.0 to 4.5 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ by Mo substitution due to enhanced phonon–impurity scattering. The thermoelectric figure of merit, ZT, increases with increasing Mo content because of the reduced lattice thermal conductivity. The maximum ZT value obtained in the present study was 0.23 at 800 K, which was observed for the sample with x=0.30. This value is significantly greater than that of undoped CrSi₂ (ZT=0.13).     

Thermoelectric transport properties through a T-shaped single quantum dot

We study the thermopower, thermal conductance, electric conductance and the thermoelectric figure of merit for a gate-defined T-shaped single quantum dot (QD). The QD is solved in the limit of strong Coulombian repulsion U→∞, inside the dot, and the quantum wire is modeled on a tight-binding linear chain. We employ the X-boson approach for the Anderson impurity model to describe the localized level within the quantum dot. Our results are in qualitative agreement with recent experimental reports and other theoretical researches for the case of a quantum dot embedded into a conduction channel, employing analogies between the two systems. The results for the thermopower sign as a function of the gate voltage (associated with the quantum dot energy) are in agreement with a recent experimental result obtained for a suspended quantum dot. The thermoelectric figure of merit times temperature results indicates that, at low temperatures and in the crossover between the intermediate valence and Kondo regimes, the system might have practical applicability in the development of thermoelectric devices.     

Temperature dependence of thermoelectric properties of Ni-doped CoSb3

Temperature dependences of the Hall coefficient, Hall mobility and thermoelectric properties of Ni-doped CoSb₃ have been characterized over the temperature range from 20 to 773 K. Ni-doped CoSb₃ is an n-type semiconductor and the conduction type changes from n-type to p-type at around 450 K. The temperature for the transition from n-type to p-type increased with increasing Ni content x. The Seebeck coefficient reaches a maximum value near the transition temperature. The electrical resistivity indicates that Co_1−xNi_xSb₃ is a typical semiconductor when x≤0.03 and a degenerate semiconductor when x>0.03. Thermal conductivity analyses show that the lattice component is predominant at lower temperatures and carrier and bipolar components become large at temperatures higher than the transition temperature. The thermoelectric figure of merit reaches a maximum value close to the transition temperature and the largest value, 4.67×10⁻⁴ K⁻¹ at 600 K, was obtained for x=0.05.     

Erratum: Thermal conductivity of thermoelectric Al‐substituted ZnO thin films

Due to a correction of the temperature oscillation, calculated by the 3ω voltage, the thermal conductivity of ZnO film is revised (κ = 8.8 ± 2.1 Wm^–1 K^–1). In particular, the Supporting Information is corrected. Furthermore, the thermoelectric figure‐of‐merit ZT of ZnO thin films is reduced by one half. (© 2014 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Energy transport in one-dimensional thermoelectric systems

The efficiency of thermoelectric power generators and the coefficient of performance of thermoelectric refrigerators increase rapidly in the region of small ZT, and then level off to a flat curve in the region of large ZT, where ZT is the figure of merit. Therefore, simply because one-dimensional thermoelectric materials have high ZT predicted theoretically does not imply that efficient thermoelectric devices can be built with such one-dimensional systems. Our numerical analysis, based on the fundamental thermodynamics which is independent of material systems, with emphasis on energy transport has confirmed this conjecture.