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Title: High thermoelectric power factor in two-dimensional crystals of Mo S 2

Journal Article · · Physical Review B
 [1];  [2];  [2];  [3];  [2];  [4];  [3];  [3];  [4]
  1. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). National Science Foundation (NSF) Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Agency for Science Technology and Research (Singapore). Inst. of Materials Research and Engineering
  2. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). National Science Foundation (NSF) Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center
  3. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
  4. Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States). National Science Foundation (NSF) Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center; Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

The quest for high-efficiency heat-to-electricity conversion has been one of the major driving forces toward renewable energy production for the future. Efficient thermoelectric devices require high voltage generation from a temperature gradient and a large electrical conductivity while maintaining a low thermal conductivity. For a given thermal conductivity and temperature, the thermoelectric power factor is determined by the electronic structure of the material. Low dimensionality (1D and 2D) opens new routes to a high power factor due to the unique density of states (DOS) of confined electrons and holes. The 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (TMDC) semiconductors represent a new class of thermoelectric materials not only due to such confinement effects but especially due to their large effective masses and valley degeneracies. Here, we report a power factor of MoS2 as large as 8.5 mW m–1 K–2 at room temperature, which is among the highest measured in traditional, gapped thermoelectric materials. To obtain these high power factors, we perform thermoelectric measurements on few-layer MoS2 in the metallic regime, which allows us to access the 2D DOS near the conduction band edge and exploit the effect of 2D confinement on electron scattering rates, resulting in a large Seebeck coefficient. We conclude the demonstrated high, electronically modulated power factor in 2D TMDCs holds promise for efficient thermoelectric energy conversion.

Research Organization:
Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC) (United States). Light-Material Interactions in Energy Conversion (LMI)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES); National Science Foundation (NSF); Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC) (Singapore)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0001293; AC02-05CH11231; DMR-1508412; 152-72-00018
OSTI ID:
1388292
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1345686
Journal Information:
Physical Review B, Vol. 95, Issue 11; Related Information: LMI partners with California Institute of Technology (lead); Harvard University; University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory; ISSN 2469-9950
Publisher:
American Physical Society (APS)Copyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Thermal Transport in 2D Semiconductors—Considerations for Device Applications journal August 2019
Perspectives on Thermoelectricity in Layered and 2D Materials journal September 2018
2D Single‐Layer π‐Conjugated Nickel Bis(dithiolene) Complex: A Good‐Electron‐Poor‐Phonon Thermoelectric Material journal March 2019
2D Materials for Large‐Area Flexible Thermoelectric Devices journal November 2019
Emerging Theory, Materials, and Screening Methods: New Opportunities for Promoting Thermoelectric Performance journal February 2019
Thermoelectric Properties and Carrier Localization in Ultrathin Layer of Nb-Doped MoS 2 journal August 2018
MoB2 Driven Metallic Behavior and Interfacial Charge Transport Mechanism in MoS2/MoB2 Heterostructure: A First-Principles Study journal September 2018
First-principles investigation on electronic properties and band alignment of group III monochalcogenides journal September 2019
Giant power factors in p- and n-type large-area graphene films on a flexible plastic substrate journal November 2019
Thermal conductivity of suspended few-layer MoS 2 journal January 2018
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2D and 3D nanostructuring strategies for thermoelectric materials journal January 2019
Strain induced valley degeneracy: a route to the enhancement of thermoelectric properties of monolayer WS 2 journal January 2019
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New horizons in thermoelectric materials: Correlated electrons, organic transport, machine learning, and more journal May 2019
A statistical Seebeck coefficient model based on percolation theory in two-dimensional disordered systems journal June 2019
Optimal band gap for improved thermoelectric performance of two-dimensional Dirac materials journal July 2019
Thermoelectric measurements of high-resistance Janus monolayer transition-metal dichalcogenide journal October 2019
New highly efficient 2D SiC UV-absorbing material with plasmonic light trapping journal October 2019
Intrinsic electronic transport and thermoelectric power factor in n-type doped monolayer MoS 2 journal April 2018
Ultrahigh thermoelectric performance of 2H–MoS 2 nanosheets with incorporated conducting secondary phase journal August 2019
Materials selection rules for optimum power factor in two-dimensional thermoelectrics journal November 2019
Ballistic thermoelectric properties of monolayer semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides and oxides journal August 2019
Large thermoelectric power factor of high-mobility transition-metal dichalcogenides with 1 T ″ phase journal February 2020
Spatiotemporal Mapping of a Photocurrent Vortex in Monolayer MoS 2 Using Diamond Quantum Sensors journal January 2020
Raman Characterization on Two-Dimensional Materials-Based Thermoelectricity journal December 2018
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