Ab initio optimization of phonon drag effect for lower-temperature thermoelectric energy conversion

Zhou, Jiawei; Liao, Bolin; Qiu, Bo; Huberman, Samuel; Esfarjani, Keivan; Dresselhaus, Mildred S.; Chen, Gang

doi:10.1073/pnas.1512328112

Title: Ab initio optimization of phonon drag effect for lower-temperature thermoelectric energy conversion

Journal Article · 16 November 2015 · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1512328112 · OSTI ID:1235174

Zhou, Jiawei ^[1]; Liao, Bolin ^[1]; Qiu, Bo ^[1]; Huberman, Samuel ^[1]; Esfarjani, Keivan ^[2]; Dresselhaus, Mildred S. ^[3]; Chen, Gang ^[1]

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139,
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854,, Institute for Advanced Materials, Devices and Nanotechnology, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854,
Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139,, Department of Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139

Significance It has been well known that the phonon drag effect—an extra electrical current induced by phonon heat flow via electron–phonon interaction—can lead to unusually high Seebeck coefficient at low temperatures. However, its use for improving thermoelectric performance has been controversial. Here, using first principles calculations we examine the phonon drag with detailed mode-specific contributions and reveal that even in heavily doped silicon at room temperature, phonon drag can still be significant, which challenges the previous belief that phonon drag vanishes in heavily doped samples. A phonon filter is designed to spectrally decouple the phonon drag from the heat conduction. Our simulation explores the coupled electron phonon transport and uncovers the possibility of optimizing the phonon drag for better thermoelectrics.

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Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE

OSTI ID:: 1235174

Journal Information:: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Issue: 48 Vol. 112; ISSN 0027-8424

Publisher:: Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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