Single-material MoS2 thermoelectric junction enabled by substrate engineering

Razeghi, M. et al. (2023) Single-material MoS2 thermoelectric junction enabled by substrate engineering. npj 2D Materials and Applications, 7, 36. (doi: 10.1038/s41699-023-00406-z)

Abstract

To realize a thermoelectric power generator, typically, a junction between two materials with different Seebeck coefficients needs to be fabricated. Such differences in Seebeck coefficients can be induced by doping, which renders it difficult when working with two-dimensional (2d) materials. However, doping is not the only way to modulate the Seebeck coefficient of a 2d material. Substrate-altered electron–phonon scattering mechanisms can also be used to this end. Here, we employ the substrate effects to form a thermoelectric junction in ultrathin, few-layer MoS2 films. We investigated the junctions with a combination of scanning photocurrent microscopy and scanning thermal microscopy. This allows us to reveal that thermoelectric junctions form across the substrate-engineered parts. We attribute this to a gating effect induced by interfacial charges in combination with alterations in the electron–phonon scattering mechanisms. This work demonstrates that substrate engineering is a promising strategy for developing future compact thin-film thermoelectric power generators.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: T.S.K. acknowledges support from TUBITAK under grant no: 121F366.
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Weaver, Professor Jonathan and Dobson, Dr Phil
• Authors: Razeghi, M., Spiece, J., Oğuz, O., Pehlivanoğlu, D., Huang, Y., Sheraz, A., Başçı, U., Dobson, P. S., Weaver, J. M.R., Gehring, P., and Kasırga, T. S.
• College/School: College of Science and Engineering > School of Engineering > Electronics and Nanoscale Engineering
• Journal Name: npj 2D Materials and Applications
• Publisher: Nature Research
• ISSN: 2397-7132
• ISSN (Online): 2397-7132
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors
• First Published: First published in npj 2D Materials and Applications 7: 36
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons License