Quenched phonon drag in silicon nanowires reveals significant effect in the bulk at room temperature

Jyothi Sadhu; Hongxiang Tian; Jun Ma; Bruno Azeredo; Junhwan Kim; Karthik Balasundaram; Chen Zhang; Xiuling Li; P. M. Ferreira; S. Sinha

doi:10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00267

Quenched phonon drag in silicon nanowires reveals significant effect in the bulk at room temperature

Jyothi Sadhu, Hongxiang Tian, Jun Ma, Bruno Azeredo, Junhwan Kim, Karthik Balasundaram, Chen Zhang, Xiuling Li, P. M. Ferreira, S. Sinha

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

28 Scopus citations

Abstract

Existing theory and data cannot quantify the contribution of phonon drag to the Seebeck coefficient (S) in semiconductors at room temperature. We show that this is possible through comparative measurements between nanowires and the bulk. Phonon boundary scattering completely quenches phonon drag in silicon nanowires enabling quantification of its contribution to S in bulk silicon in the range 25-500 K. The contribution is surprisingly large (∼34%) at 300 K even at doping of ∼3 × 10¹⁹ cm^-3. Our results contradict the notion that phonon drag is negligible in degenerate semiconductors at temperatures relevant for thermoelectric energy conversion. A revised theory of electron-phonon momentum exchange that accounts for a phonon mean free path spectrum agrees well with the data.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	3159-3165
Number of pages	7
Journal	Nano Letters
Volume	15
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00267
State	Published - May 13 2015
Externally published	Yes

Keywords

Seebeck effect
electron-phonon scattering
phonon drag
silicon nanowires
thermoelectrics

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Bioengineering
General Chemistry
General Materials Science
Condensed Matter Physics
Mechanical Engineering

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10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00267

Cite this

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title = "Quenched phonon drag in silicon nanowires reveals significant effect in the bulk at room temperature",

abstract = "Existing theory and data cannot quantify the contribution of phonon drag to the Seebeck coefficient (S) in semiconductors at room temperature. We show that this is possible through comparative measurements between nanowires and the bulk. Phonon boundary scattering completely quenches phonon drag in silicon nanowires enabling quantification of its contribution to S in bulk silicon in the range 25-500 K. The contribution is surprisingly large (∼34%) at 300 K even at doping of ∼3 × 1019 cm-3. Our results contradict the notion that phonon drag is negligible in degenerate semiconductors at temperatures relevant for thermoelectric energy conversion. A revised theory of electron-phonon momentum exchange that accounts for a phonon mean free path spectrum agrees well with the data.",

keywords = "Seebeck effect, electron-phonon scattering, phonon drag, silicon nanowires, thermoelectrics",

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doi = "10.1021/acs.nanolett.5b00267",

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T1 - Quenched phonon drag in silicon nanowires reveals significant effect in the bulk at room temperature

AU - Sadhu, Jyothi

AU - Tian, Hongxiang

AU - Ma, Jun

AU - Azeredo, Bruno

AU - Kim, Junhwan

AU - Balasundaram, Karthik

AU - Zhang, Chen

AU - Li, Xiuling

AU - Ferreira, P. M.

AU - Sinha, S.

PY - 2015/5/13

Y1 - 2015/5/13

N2 - Existing theory and data cannot quantify the contribution of phonon drag to the Seebeck coefficient (S) in semiconductors at room temperature. We show that this is possible through comparative measurements between nanowires and the bulk. Phonon boundary scattering completely quenches phonon drag in silicon nanowires enabling quantification of its contribution to S in bulk silicon in the range 25-500 K. The contribution is surprisingly large (∼34%) at 300 K even at doping of ∼3 × 1019 cm-3. Our results contradict the notion that phonon drag is negligible in degenerate semiconductors at temperatures relevant for thermoelectric energy conversion. A revised theory of electron-phonon momentum exchange that accounts for a phonon mean free path spectrum agrees well with the data.

AB - Existing theory and data cannot quantify the contribution of phonon drag to the Seebeck coefficient (S) in semiconductors at room temperature. We show that this is possible through comparative measurements between nanowires and the bulk. Phonon boundary scattering completely quenches phonon drag in silicon nanowires enabling quantification of its contribution to S in bulk silicon in the range 25-500 K. The contribution is surprisingly large (∼34%) at 300 K even at doping of ∼3 × 1019 cm-3. Our results contradict the notion that phonon drag is negligible in degenerate semiconductors at temperatures relevant for thermoelectric energy conversion. A revised theory of electron-phonon momentum exchange that accounts for a phonon mean free path spectrum agrees well with the data.

KW - Seebeck effect

KW - electron-phonon scattering

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KW - silicon nanowires

KW - thermoelectrics

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Quenched phonon drag in silicon nanowires reveals significant effect in the bulk at room temperature

Abstract

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

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