Improving the Thermoelectric Power Factor in 2D Single-Layer MoS2 Using Periodic Potentials

Thermoelectric (TE) devices enable robust solid-state conversion of waste heat to electricity but their applications are still limited by relatively modest efficiency. Power factor controls the TE energy conversion efficiency of a material. A higher power factor also helps to increase the passive or electronic cooling ability. Single-layer (SL) 2-dimensional (2D) materials have been analytically shown to have higher power factors [1]. In this work, we extend our 3D model to simulate quantum transport and capture energy filtering in 2D SL $\text{MoS}_{2}$ that can improve power factor. Energy relaxation and quantum effects from periodic spatially varying potential barriers are modeled in the Wigner-Rode formalism. Our simulations show an increase in power factor in both cosine- and square-shaped barriers with the height of the potential barrier, resulting in over 30% power factor enhancement. This improvement in TE efficiency helps in the development of efficient waste-heat scavenging, body-heat-powered wearables, thermal sensors, and electronic cooling.