2011/05/25 by Paul M. Haney, Haney, Paul M.
Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics #Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices #Thermal properties of materials #cond-mat.mtrl-sci
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1105.5163
4 pages, 3 figures
arxiv created 2011/05/25 · arxiv updated 2015/03/19
The transport coefficients of disordered media are analyzed using direct numerical simulation and effective medium theory. The results indicate a range of materials parameters for which disorder leads to an enhanced power factor. This increase in power factor is generally not accompanied by an increase in the figure of merit ZT, however. It is also found that the effective electrical conductivity and electronic contribution to the thermal conductivity are not generally proportional to each other in the presence of disorder.