A theoretical study on the performances of thermoelectric heat engine and refrigerator with two-dimensional electron reservoirs

Journal Article · Sat Jun 28 04:00:00 EDT 2014 · Journal of Applied Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4885295· OSTI ID:22304499

Luo, Xiaoguang; Long, Kailin; Wang, Jun; Qiu, Teng ^[1]; He, Jizhou ^[2]; Liu, Nian ^[3]

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1. Department of Physics, Southeast University, Nanjing 211189 (China)
2. Department of Physics, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031 (China)
3. Department of Physical and Electronics, Anhui Science and Technology University, Bengbu 233100 (China)

Theoretical thermoelectric nanophysics models of low-dimensional electronic heat engine and refrigerator devices, comprising two-dimensional hot and cold reservoirs and an interconnecting filtered electron transport mechanism have been established. The models were used to numerically simulate and evaluate the thermoelectric performance and energy conversion efficiencies of these low-dimensional devices, based on three different types of electron transport momentum-dependent filters, referred to herein as k{sub x}, k{sub y}, and k{sub r} filters. Assuming the Fermi-Dirac distribution of electrons, expressions for key thermoelectric performance parameters were derived for the resonant transport processes, in which the transmission of electrons has been approximated as a Lorentzian resonance function. Optimizations were carried out and the corresponding optimized design parameters have been determined, including but not limited to the universal theoretical upper bound of the efficiency at maximum power for heat engines, and the maximum coefficient of performance for refrigerators. From the results, it was determined that k{sub r} filter delivers the best thermoelectric performance, followed by the k{sub x} filter, and then the k{sub y} filter. For refrigerators with any one of three filters, an optimum range for the full width at half maximum of the transport resonance was found to be <2k{sub B}T.

• OSTI ID: 22304499
• Journal Information: Journal of Applied Physics, Journal Name: Journal of Applied Physics Journal Issue: 24 Vol. 115; ISSN JAPIAU; ISSN 0021-8979
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

75 CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS
SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY
COEFFICIENT OF PERFORMANCE
DISTRIBUTION
EFFICIENCY
ELECTRONS
ENERGY CONVERSION
EQUIPMENT
FILTERS
HEAT ENGINES
LORENTZ FORCE
PERFORMANCE
REFRIGERATORS
RESONANCE
SIMULATION
THERMOELECTRICITY
TRANSMISSION
TWO-DIMENSIONAL CALCULATIONS