Thermoelectric effects and size dependency of the figure-of-merit in cylindrical nanowires

Review—Towards the Next Generation of Thermoelectric Materials: Tailoring Electronic and Phononic Properties of Nanomaterials

“…This remarkable result has been attributed to the dramatic decrease in the thermal conductance due to the increase phonon scattering by the rough surfaces. 25,59,[82][83][84] In the quest for efficient thermoelectric materials, we have proposed a novel approach to improve the overall figure of merit of Si nanowires. Our calculations show that covering the Si nanowires with a thin shell of Ge (or an alloy of Si and Ge) does improve the figure of merit.…”

Constitutive equations for heat conduction in nanosystems and nonequilibrium processes: an overview

“…with λ p being the phonon contribution to the thermal conductivity, and λ e the electron contribution to it [63][64][65].…”

Entropy Principle and Recent Results in Non-Equilibrium Theories

“…In such a case it is realistic to suppose that, due to the reduced dimension of the radius with respect to the phonon mean free path, the effects of the interaction between the phonons and the wall of the nanowire are not limited to a thin layer close to the wall but pervade the whole system. According with this point of view, we suppose that the phonon heat flux is [85,86] …”

“…However, in the present case that layer pervades the whole transversal section, so that the wall contribution arising from Equation (41) is constant. Thus, the radial profile of the total heat flux is [85,86] …”