Investigation of Mesoporous Structures for Thermoelectric Applications

Abstract

Mesoporous silicon is an attractive material for thermoelectric application. For pore wall thicknesses around <100nm, phonons can not penetrate the porous layer while electrons still can, due to there smaller mean free path length. The resulting good electrical and bad thermal conductivity is a premise for efficient thermoelectric devices. This paper presents results regarding homogeneity, high porosity, and optimal pore wall thicknesses for porous silicon based thermoelectric devices.