Thermoelectric figure of merit in transverse magnetic field under adiabatic and isothermal conditions

•The influence of an external magnetic field on thermoelectric figure of merit in semiconductors is studied theoretically.•The various figures of merit for longitudinal and transverse magneto-thermoelectric effects under isothermal and adiabatic conditions are defined and the relations among them ar...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials 2020-01, Vol.493, p.165660, Article 165660
Main Authors: Tarkhanyan, Roland H., Niarchos, Dimitris G.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adiabatic conditions
Adiabatic effects
Current carriers
Figure of merit
Magnetic field
Magnetic fields
Mathematical analysis
Semiconductor
Temperature gradients
Thermoelectricity
Thermomagnetic effects
Transport coefficients, magneto-Seebeck and Nernst effects
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:•The influence of an external magnetic field on thermoelectric figure of merit in semiconductors is studied theoretically.•The various figures of merit for longitudinal and transverse magneto-thermoelectric effects under isothermal and adiabatic conditions are defined and the relations among them are established.•The peculiarities of the magneto-thermoelectric figures of merit in materials with non-degenerate and strongly degenerate statistics of the charge carriers are examined. The influence of the magnetic field on the thermoelectric figure of merit in semiconducting materials is studied theoretically. One of the important issues is the urgency to distinguish the various conditions under which the magneto-thermoelectric effects can be observed. Isothermal effects take place when there is no temperature gradient in the direction perpendicular to the plane containing the magnetic field and applied temperature gradient. Adiabatic effects occur when there is no heat current in the same transverse direction while a temperature gradient arises due to the Righi-Leduc effect. In this paper we examine how the application of an external magnetic field can vary the figure of merit ZT under isothermal and adiabatic conditions and establish relations among them for both longitudinal and transverse Nernst-Ettingshausen effects. Analytical expressions for the figures of merit are obtained in semiconductors with both non-degenerate and strongly degenerate statistics of charge carriers, in limiting cases of weak and classically strong magnetic fields.
ISSN:0304-8853
1873-4766
DOI:10.1016/j.jmmm.2019.165660