Thermally-Enhanced Fröhlich Coupling in SnSe
arXiv:1905.09174 · doi:10.1103/PhysRevB.99.081104
Abstract
To gain insight into the peculiar temperature dependence of the thermoelectric material SnSe, we employ many-body perturbation theory and explore the influence of the electron-phonon interaction on its electronic and transport properties. We show that a lattice dynamics characterized by soft highly-polar phonons induces a large thermal enhancement of the Fröhlich interaction. We account for these phenomena in ab-initio calculations of the photoemission spectrum and electrical conductivity at finite temperature, unraveling the mechanisms behind recent experimental data. Our results reveal a complex interplay between lattice thermal expansion and Fröhlich coupling, providing a new rationale for the in-silico prediction of transport coefficients of high-performance thermoelectrics.
6 pages, 3 figures
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