Fabrication of Low Cost Thermoelectric Materials With Improved Properties Using Modulation-Doping Strategy
Author(s)
Ren, Zhifeng
Zebarjadi, Mona
Yu, Bo Yang
Dresselhaus, Mildred
Chen, Gang
Date Issued
July 2012
Journal
Volume 2: Thermal Management; Data Centers and Energy Efficient Electronic Systems; ASME 2013 International Technical Conference and Exhibition on Packaging and Integration of Electronic and Photonic Microsystems; ASME 2012 Heat Transfer Summer Conference collocated with the ASME 2012 Fluids Engineering Division Summer Meeting and the ASME 2012 10th International Conference on Nanochannels, Microchannels, and Minichannels
Publisher
ASME International
Citation
Zebarjadi, Mona, Bo Yu, Mildred Dresselhaus, Gang Chen, and Zhifeng Ren. “Fabrication of Low Cost Thermoelectric Materials With Improved Properties Using Modulation-Doping Strategy.” Volume 1: Heat Transfer in Energy Systems; Theory and Fundamental Research; Aerospace Heat Transfer; Gas Turbine Heat Transfer; Transport Phenomena in Materials Processing and Manufacturing; Heat And (July 8, 2012), Rio Grande, Puerto Rico, USA, ASME International, 2018. © 2012 ASME International
Version
Final published version
Abstract
We introduce the modulation-doping strategy in bulk SiGe nanostructures to improve the thermoelectric power factor. By separating charge carriers from their parent atoms via embedding heavily doped nanoparticles inside an intrinsic host matrix, the ionized impurity scattering rate could be largely reduced, resulting in enhanced mobility. By band engineering, the carriers can spill over from nanoparticles into the host matrix, resulting in similar carrier concentrations, Fermi levels and consequently Seebeck coefficients as those of the uniform nanocomposites. In addition, nanoparticles with low thermal conductivities can further reduce the overall thermal conductivity of the sample. Combining the enhanced electrical conductivity, the reduced thermal conductivity and the unaffected Seebeck coefficient, we were able to enhance the thermoelectric properties of Si-rich Si[subscript 95]Ge[subscript 5]. And therefore were able to fabricate a low-cost sample with a competitive performance as those of the state of the art Si[subscript 80]Ge[subscript 20].
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics
Terms of Use
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Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1115/HT2012-58551
