
Andreas Wacker
Professor

Nonlinear thermoelectric efficiency of superlattice-structured nanowires
Author
Summary, in English
We theoretically investigate nonlinear ballistic thermoelectric transport in a superlattice-structured nanowire. By a special choice of nonuniform widths of the superlattice barriers - analogous to antireflection coating in optical systems - it is possible to achieve a transmission which comes close to a square profile as a function of energy. We calculate the low-temperature output power and power-conversion efficiency of a thermoelectric generator based on such a structure and show that the efficiency remains high also when operating at a significant power. To provide guidelines for experiments, we study how the results depend on the nanowire radius, the number of barriers, and on random imperfections in barrier width and separation. Our results indicate that high efficiencies can indeed be achieved with today's capabilities in epitaxial nanowire growth.
Department/s
- Mathematical Physics
- NanoLund: Center for Nanoscience
- Solid State Physics
Publishing year
2016-09-08
Language
English
Publication/Series
Physical Review B
Volume
94
Issue
11
Full text
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Document type
Journal article
Publisher
American Physical Society
Topic
- Condensed Matter Physics
Status
Published
ISBN/ISSN/Other
- ISSN: 1098-0121