The Importance of Complex Electronic Structures in Thermoelectric Materials
COFFEE_KLATCH · Invited
Abstract
Thermoelectric performance as characterized by the figure of merit, ZT, is a counter-indicated property of matter, meaning that high ZT depends on a combination of transport properties that do not generally occur together. A particularly important conundrum in thermoelectrics is the requirements for simultaneously having high electrical conductivity and high thermopower. I will argue that the resolution of this conundrum is through complex band structures and discuss how these arise in various known and predicted high performance thermoelectric materials.
*This work was done in collaboration with David Parker, Mao-Hua Du, Xin Chen and Hongliang Shi. We are grateful for support from the Department of Energy, through the Office of Basic Energy Sciences, S3TEC Energy Frontier Research Center and the Materials
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