Thermoelectric propertie of Ge based electron crystal phonon glass materials

TL;DR

This paper presents the development and characterization of Ge:Mn nanostructured thin films with significantly reduced thermal conductivity and promising thermoelectric performance, highlighting their potential as electron crystal phonon glass materials.

Contribution

The study introduces Ge:Mn nanostructured thin films with enhanced thermoelectric properties and demonstrates a substantial reduction in thermal conductivity while maintaining electronic performance.

Findings

Thermal conductivity decreased by a factor of 30.

ZT value reaches 0.15 at room temperature.

Potential for Ge-based thermoelectric applications.

Abstract

We report on the elaboration of germanium manganese nanostructured thin films and the measurement of their thermoelectric properties. We investigate the growth of Ge:Mn layers along with a thorough structural characterization of this materials at the nanoscale. The room temperature thermoelectric properties of these layers containing spherical inclusions are discussed regarding their potential as a model of "electron crystal phonon glass material". We show that the thermal conductivity can be decreased by a factor of 30, even if the electronic properties can be conserved as in the bulk. The thermoelectric performance ZT of such material is as high as 0.15 making them a promising thermoelectric p-type material for Ge related application.