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Staircase Quantum Dots Configuration in Nanowires for Optimized Thermoelectric Power

Lijie Li Orcid Logo, Jian-Hua Jiang

Scientific Reports, Volume: 6, Issue: 1

Swansea University Author: Lijie Li Orcid Logo

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DOI (Published version): 10.1038/srep31974

Abstract

The performance of thermoelectric energy harvesters can be improved by nanostructures that exploit inelastic transport processes. One prototype is the three-terminal hopping thermoelectric device where electron hopping between quantum-dots are driven by hot phonons. Such three-terminal hopping therm...

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Published in: Scientific Reports
ISSN: 2045-2322 2045-2322
Published: 2016
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URI: https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa29634
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Abstract: The performance of thermoelectric energy harvesters can be improved by nanostructures that exploit inelastic transport processes. One prototype is the three-terminal hopping thermoelectric device where electron hopping between quantum-dots are driven by hot phonons. Such three-terminal hopping thermoelectric devices have potential in achieving high efficiency or power via inelastic transport and without relying on heavy-elements or toxic compounds. We show in this work how output power of the device can be optimized via tuning the number and energy configuration of the quantum-dots embedded in parallel nanowires. We find that the staircase energy configuration with constant energy-step can improve the power factor over a serial connection of a single pair of quantum-dots. Moreover, for a fixed energy-step, there is an optimal length for the nanowire. Similarly for a fixed number of quantum-dots there is an optimal energy-step for the output power. Our results are important for future developments of high-performance nanostructured thermoelectric devices.
College: Faculty of Science and Engineering
Issue: 1

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