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Thermoelectric transport in molecular crystals driven by gradients of thermal electronic disorder

Elsner, J; Xu, Y; Goldberg, ED; Ivanovic, F; Dines, A; Giannini, S; Sirringhaus, H; (2024) Thermoelectric transport in molecular crystals driven by gradients of thermal electronic disorder. Science Advances , 10 (43) , Article eadr1758. 10.1126/sciadv.adr1758. Green open access

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Abstract

Thermoelectric materials convert a temperature gradient into a voltage. This phenomenon is relatively well understood for inorganic materials but much less so for organic semiconductors (OSs). These materials present a challenge because the strong thermal fluctuations of electronic coupling between the molecules result in partially delocalized charge carriers that cannot be treated with traditional theories for thermoelectricity. Here, we develop a quantum dynamical simulation approach revealing in atomistic detail how the charge carrier wave function moves along a temperature gradient in an organic molecular crystal. We find that the wave function propagates from hot to cold in agreement with the experiment, and we obtain a Seebeck coefficient in good agreement with experimental measurements that are also reported in this work. Detailed analysis reveals that gradients in thermal electronic disorder play an important role in determining the magnitude of the Seebeck coefficient, opening unexplored avenues for the design of OSs with improved Seebeck coefficients.

Type: Article
Title: Thermoelectric transport in molecular crystals driven by gradients of thermal electronic disorder
Location: United States
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.adr1758
Publisher version: https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adr1758
Language: English
Additional information: © 2024 he Authors, some rights reserved; exclusive licensee American Association for the Advancement of Science. o claim to original U.S. Government Works. istributed under a reative ommons Attribution icense 4.0 ( BY).
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy
URI: https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10201608
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