Electronic and Transport Properties of Novel Thermoelectrics : A First-principle Study

ISBN-13: 9783639169591 / Angielski / Miękka / 2009 / 104 str.

Daniel Ioan Bilc

Opis

In recent years there have been a revival of interest§in discovering and understanding the physical§properties of novel thermoelectric (TE) materials§with high figure of merit. These materials are§primarily narrow band gap semiconductors. In this§book, electronic structure calculations were carried§out for several narrow band gap chalcogenide TE§materials in order to understand their electronic and§transport properties governing their TE§characteristics. These calculations were performed§within DFT whereas the transport calculations were§carried out using Boltzmann transport equations. The§effect of quantum confinement created by the surfaces§of Bi2Se3 and Bi2Te3 (impact of interlayer bonding)§and their superlattice electronic properties were§investigated. The complex materials (K2Bi8Se13,§AgPbmSbTe2+m (LAST-m)) were studied. For PbTe and§LAST-m materials, which are among the best bulk TE at§high temperatures, transport calculations were§performed. This study should be useful to§professionals in the field of thermoelectricity, or§anyone interested in electronic and transport§properties of narrow gap semiconductors.

O autorze

Daniel I. Bilc was born in Huedin, Romania, 1973. He received his
B.Sc. in physics from "Babes-Bolyai" University in 1996. He
continued his education in USA at Michigan State University. From
this institution he received his Ph.D. in theoretical physics in
2005. At present he is a research associate at University of
Liege, Belgium.