Effect of nanoparticle scattering on thermoelectric power factor

Abstract

The effect of nanoparticles on the thermoelectric power factor is investigated using the relaxation time approximation. The partial-wave technique is used for calculating the nanoparticle scattering cross section exactly. We validate our model by comparing its results to the experimental data obtained for ErAs:InGaAlAs samples. We use the theory to maximize the power factor with respect to nanoparticle and electron concentrations as well as the barrier height. We found that at the optimum of the power factor, the electron concentration is usually higher in the sample with nanoparticles, implying that Seebeck is usually unchanged and conductivity is increased.