Thermoelectric properties of laterally nanostructured ZnO/ZnS thin films: theory and experiment

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The main aim of the project is to complete the development of a multiscale model for describing the thermoelectric properties of nanostructured materials. The intension is to obtain a full understanding from the microscopic to the macroscopic scale relating structural, electronic and vibrational properties of the samples to their macroscopic transport coefficients, thermal conductivity κ, electric conductivity σ, and Seebeck coefficient S. The emphasis of the experimental work lies on obtaining information about structure, electronic and vibrational states as well as transport coefficients on the microscopic scale by employing different non-invasive scanning probe techniques in addition to macroscopic measurements. The theoretical emphasis lies on bridging the gap between ballistic transport and diffusive transport. The theoretical model and its limitations will be tested rigorously by studying a series of physical problems addressing major issues of nanostructured materials, i.e. phonon scattering on different length scales, and atomic diffusion across interfaces, and percolation effects. For the testing of the model specifically designed laterally nanostructured samples based on the ZnO-ZnS semiconductor system will be fabricated in two types of configurations I and II allowing one to determine all lateral thermoelectric transport coefficients.