# Optimized Fabry-P\'erot cavity engineered nanoscale thermoelectric generators

## TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel nanoscale thermoelectric generator design using an optical Fabry-Pérot cavity analog to optimize electron transmission, significantly boosting power output while maintaining high efficiency.

## Contribution

It introduces a cavity-engineered heterostructure for thermoelectric generators, providing design guidelines and demonstrating power enhancement over existing resonant tunneling devices.

## Key findings

- Maximum output power increased by 116%
- Efficiency improved by 10% compared to traditional devices
- Design guidelines for near-perfect bandpass energy filtering

## Abstract

In this work, we aim to design a heterostructure based nanoscale thermoelectric generator that can maximize the waste-heat conversion efficiency at a given output power. The primary objective to be achieved for this is to realize a boxcar-shaped (bandpass) electronic transmission function (R. S. Whitney, Phys. Rev. Lett. 112, 130601 (2014)). In order to achieve that, we propose the use of an electronic analog of optical Fabry-P\'erot cavity over a central resonant tunneling structure. We further explore the optimum design possibilities by varying the geometry of the cavity wall to ensure a nearly perfect bandpass energy filtering of electrons. Based on our findings, we propose a general design guideline to realize such transmission and demonstrate that such devices can be excellent thermoelectric generators compared to the existing proposals in terms of boosting the output power without a cost in efficiency. It is theoretically demonstrated using the non-equilibrium Green's function technique coupled with self-consistent charging effects that an enhancement in the maximum output power up to $116\%$ can be achieved through this scheme at a $10\%$ higher efficiency as compared to resonant tunneling based devices. Furthermore, an elaborate comparative study of the linear response parameters is also presented and explained in terms of the physical transport properties. This study suggests an optimal device design strategy for an improved thermoelectric generator and sets the stage for a new class of thermoelectric generators facilitated via transmission lineshape engineering.