Published February 15, 1994
| Version v1
Journal article
Optimum band gap of a thermoelectric material
Creators
- 1. Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville, Tennessee 37996-1200 (United States)
- 2. Solid State Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, P.O. Box 2008, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37831-6030 (United States)
Description
Transport properties of direct-gap semiconductors are calculated in order to find the best thermoelectrics. Previous calculations on semiconductors with indirect band gaps found that the best thermoelectrics had gaps equal to nkBT, where n=6-10 and T is the operating temperature of the thermoelectric device. Here we report similar calculations on direct-gap materials. We find that the optimum gap is always greater than 6kBT, but can be much larger depending on the specific mechanism of electron scattering
Additional details
Publishing Information
- Journal Title
- Physical Review. B, Condensed Matter
- Journal Volume
- 49
- Journal Issue
- 7
- Journal Page Range
- p. 4565-4570.
- ISSN
- 0163-1829
- CODEN
- PRBMDO
INIS
- Country of Publication
- United States
- Country of Input or Organization
- United States
- INIS RN
- 25042609
- Subject category
- S75: CONDENSED MATTER PHYSICS, SUPERCONDUCTIVITY AND SUPERFLUIDITY;
- Descriptors DEI
- BOLTZMANN EQUATION; ELECTRON-PHONON COUPLING; ELECTRONIC STRUCTURE; ENERGY GAP; NUMERICAL SOLUTION; OPTIMIZATION; SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS; THERMOELECTRIC MATERIALS
- Descriptors DEC
- COUPLING; DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS; EQUATIONS; MATERIALS; PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS