# Large thermoelectric power factor of high-mobility 1T'' phase of transition-metal dichalcogenides

## TL;DR

This study reveals that the 1T'' phase of MoSe2 exhibits high mobility and thermoelectric power factor, making it a promising candidate for thermoelectric applications based on first-principles calculations.

## Contribution

It systematically investigates the electronic and transport properties of 1T'' phase transition-metal dichalcogenides, highlighting MoSe2's superior thermoelectric performance.

## Key findings

- MoSe2 has a hole mobility of 690 cm^2/Vs at room temperature.
- MoSe2's Seebeck coefficient reaches 300 μV/K at room temperature.
- MoSe2 exhibits a thermoelectric power factor of around 6×10^-3 W/mK^2 at low to intermediate temperatures.

## Abstract

The experimental studies about monolayer transition metal dichalcogenides in the recent year reveal this kind of compounds have many metastable phases with unique physical properties, not just 1H phases. Here, we focus on the 1T'' phase and systematically investigate the electronic structures and transport properties of MX2 (M=Mo, W; X=S, Se, Te) using the first-principles calculations with Boltzmann transport theory. And among them, only three molybdenum compounds has small direct bandgap at K point, which derive from the distortion of octahedral-coordination [MoS6]. For these three cases, hole carrier mobility of MoSe2 is estimated as 690 cm^2/Vs at room temperature, far more high than that of other two MoX2. For the reason, the combination of the modest carrier effective mass and weak electron-phonon coupling lead to the outstanding transport performance of MoSe2. The Seebeck coefficient of MoSe2 is also evaluated as high as 300 10^-6 V/K at room temperature. Due to the temperature dependent mobility of T^-1.9 and higher Seebeck coefficient at low temperature, it is found that MoSe2 has a large thermoelectric power factor around 6 10^-3 W/mK^2 in the low to intermediate temperature range. The present results suggests 1T'' MoSe2 maybe a excellent candidate for thermoelectric material.