Large enhancement of the thermoelectric power factor in disordered materials through resonant scattering

Abstract

In the search for more efficient thermoelectric materials, scientists have placed high hopes in the possibility of enhancing the power factor using resonant states. In this study, we investigate theoretically the effects of randomly distributed resonant impurities on the power factor. Using the Chebyshev Polynomial Green's Function method, we compute the electron transport properties for very large systems (10 million atoms) with an exact treatment of disorder. The introduction of resonant defects can lead to a large enhancement of the power factor together with a sign inversion in the Seebeck coefficient. This boost depends crucially on the position of the resonant peak, and on the interplay between elastic impurity scattering and inelastic processes. Strong electron-phonon or electron-electron scattering are found detrimental. Finally, the robustness of our results is examined in the case of anisotropic orbitals and two-dimensional confinement. Our findings are promising for the prospect of thermoelectric power generation.