Thermoelectric power factor limit of a 1D nanowire

Abstract

In the past decade, there has been significant interest in the potentially advantageous thermoelectric properties of one-dimensional (1D) nanowires, but it has been challenging to find high thermoelectric power factors based on 1D effect in practice. Here we point out that there is an upper limit to the thermoelectric power factor of non-ballistic 1D nanowires, as a consequence of the recently established quantum bound of thermoelectric power output. We experimentally test this limit in quasi-ballistic InAs nanowires by extracting the maximum power factor of the first 1D subband through I-V characterization, finding that the measured maximum power factors conform to the theoretical limit. The established limit predicts that a competitive power factor, on the order of mW/m-K^2, can be achieved by a single 1D electronic channel in state-of-the-art semiconductor nanowires with small cross-section and high crystal quality.

References in corpus (4)

• Ballistic to diffusive crossover of heat flow in graphene ribbons
• One-Dimensional Quantum Confinement Effect Modulated Thermoelectric Properties in InAs Nanowires
• Finding the quantum thermoelectric with maximal efficiency and minimal entropy production at given power output
• Scaling theory put into practice: first-principles modeling of transport in doped silicon nanowires

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• Effects of strong electron interactions and resonance scattering on power output of nano-devices
• Thermoelectric phenomena in an antiferromagnetic helix: Role of electric field
• Quantum thermocouples: nonlocal conversion and control of heat in nanostructures
• Thermoelectric properties of InAs nanowires from full-band atomistic simulations
• Potential barriers are nearly-ideal quantum thermoelectrics at finite power output
• Enhanced thermoelectric effects in a driven one-dimensional system
• Spin caloritronics in collinear ferromagnetic helical structures under irradiation