Effects of the Resonant Scattering on Thermoelectric Properties

To explore the effects of resonant scattering on the thermoelectric properties theoretically, a carrier transport model based on single parabolic band considering only acoustic phonon scattering and resonant scattering is proposed. Using this model, many thermoelectric properties, including the electrical conductivity, theSeebeck coefficient, the power factor, the Lorenz number and the electrical thermal conductivity are calculated and compared to illustrate the effects of resonant scattering induced by resonant states. The results show that, because of the resonant scattering, the power factor would be enhanced up to 3.5 times, while the electrical thermal conductivity would be suppressed down to 0.45 times simultaneously. These demonstrate the important role on thermoelectric properties improving. The calculation also shows that, the carrier transport can only be effectively affected when the energy range of the resonant level is wide enough, and the wider the range is, the higher the thermoelectric properties would be.