DNA-based thermoelectric devices: a theoretical prospective

The thermoelectric performance of PolyG-PolyC and PolyA-PolyT double-stranded chains connected between organic contacts at different temperatures is theoretically studied on the basis of an effective model Hamiltonian. The obtained analytical expressions reveal the existence of important resonance e...

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Bibliographic Details
Author: Maciá Barber, Enrique Alfonso
Format: article
Publication Date:2007
Country:España
Institution:Universidad Complutense de Madrid (UCM)
Repository:Docta Complutense
Language:English
OAI Identifier:oai:docta.ucm.es:20.500.14352/52103
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/52103
Access Level:Open access
Keyword:538.9
Acoustic-phonon modes
Electrical-transport
Biomolecular nanowires
Deoxyribonucleic-acid
Electronic transport
Charge-transport
Lambda-DNA
Conductance
Molecules
Quantum
Física de materiales
Física del estado sólido
2211 Física del Estado Sólido
Description
Summary:The thermoelectric performance of PolyG-PolyC and PolyA-PolyT double-stranded chains connected between organic contacts at different temperatures is theoretically studied on the basis of an effective model Hamiltonian. The obtained analytical expressions reveal the existence of important resonance effects leading to a significant enhancement of the Seebeck coefficient depending on the Fermi level position. High thermoelectric power factors, up to P=(1.5-3)x10^(-3) W m^(-1) K^(-2), are obtained close to the resonance energy. These values suggest that significantly high values of the thermoelectric figure of merit may be attained for synthetic DNA samples at room temperature. The possibility of combining p-type and n-type synthetic DNA chains in the design of a nanoscale Peltier cell is discussed, taking into account both contact and environmental effects.