Effects of interdot hopping and Coulomb blockade on the thermoelectric properties of serially coupled quantum dots

Abstract

We have theoretically studied the thermoelectric properties of serially coupled quantum dots (SCQD) embedded in an insulator matrix connected to metallic electrodes. In the framework of Keldysh Green's function technique, the Landauer formula of transmission factor is obtained by using the equation of motion method. Based on such analytical expressions of charge and heat currents, we calculate the electrical conductance, Seebeck coefficient, electron thermal conductance and figure of merit (ZT) of SCQD in the linear response regime. The effects of electron Coulomb interactions on the reduction and enhancement of ZT are analyzed. We demonstrate that ZT is not a monotonic increasing function of interdot electron hopping strength ($t_c$). We also show that in the absence of phonon thermal conductance, SCQD can reach the Carnot efficiency as $t_c$ approaches zero.

corrected some argumenets

References in corpus (4)

• Optimal thermoelectric figure of merit of a molecular junction
• Pauli spin blockade in weakly coupled quantum dots
• Double quantum dot as detector of spin bias
• Tunneling current spectroscopy of a nanostructure junction involving multiple energy levels

Cited by in corpus (5)

• Thermal rectification in a double quantum dots system with polaron effect
• Heat rectification effect of serially coupled quantum dots
• Long distance coherent tunneling effect on the charge and heat currents in serially coupled triple quantum dots
• Controlling thermoelectric, heat, and energy currents through a quantum dot in sequential and cotunneling Coulomb-blockade regimes
• Current Rectification and Seebeck Coefficient of Serially Coupled Double Quantum Dots