Ballistic thermoelectric properties in boron nitride nanoribbons

Ballistic thermoelectric properties (TPs) in boron nitride nanoribbons (BNNRs) are studied using the nonequilibrium Green's function atomistic simulation of electron and phonon transport. A comparative analysis for TPs between BNNRs and graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) is made. Results show that the TPs of BNNRs are better than those of GNRs stemming from the higher power factor and smaller thermal conductance of BNNRs. With increasing the ribbon width, the maximum value of ZT (ZT(max)) of BNNRs exhibits a transformation from the monotonic decrease to nonlinear increase. We also show that the lattice defect can enhance the ZT(max) of these nanoribbons strongly depending on its positions and the edge shape. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.