Heating and thermoelectric transport in a molecular junction

TL;DR

This paper investigates heat flow and energy dissipation in molecular junctions, focusing on the effective temperature of molecular oscillators under strong electron-phonon coupling using nonequilibrium Green function methods.

Contribution

It introduces a detailed analysis of heat transport and effective temperature in molecular junctions considering strong electron-phonon interactions with a nonequilibrium Green function approach.

Findings

Effective temperature of molecular oscillators determined.

Dependence of heat flow on electron-phonon interaction strength analyzed.

Steady-state conditions for energy dissipation established.

Abstract

The energy dissipation and heat flows associated with the particle current in a system with a molecular junction are considered. In this connection, we determine the effective temperature of the molecular oscillator that is compatible with the existence of a steady state. The calculations based on the Kadanov-Baym nonequilibrium Green function formalism are carried out supposing a strong coupling of the dot electrons with the molecular vibrations. Accordingly, the representation given by the Lang-Firsov polaron transformation is used and the dependence of results on the electron-phonon interaction strength is investigated.