Enhanced thermoelectric performance through energy-filtering effects in nanocomposites dispersed with metallic particles

The thermoelectric properties of semiconductor materials with metallic nanoinclusions were investigated by using the Boltzmann transport equation under the relaxation time approximation. The results showed that the Seebeck coefficient can be significantly enhanced due to interface potential barrier induced by metallic nanoinclusions, leading to the optimized power factor at T<700K as barrier height is around k(B)T larger than the Fermi energy (here, k(B) is the Boltzmann constant). Additionally, it was found that high-concentration nanoinclusions with radius 1-2 nm can effectively enhance the thermoelectric performance of nanocomposites through energy-selective carrier scattering. (C) 2012 American Institute of Physics. [http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4755768]