Thermoelectric material and method of manufacturing the same

摘要

A thermoelectric material having large thermoelectric figure of merit is provided. A thin film comprising nanometer-sized particles having their diameters distributing within the range of 0.5 nm though 100 nm both inclusive is formed by depositing the nanometer-sized particles on a substrate, or dispersing the particles in a solid matrix material or solution thereby to form a thin film. In the thin film, a band gap due to quantum confinement effect is generated in each of the particles and electrical conduction occurs by that at least a part of the particles supply carriers. Accordingly, thermal conductivity kappa as well as electrical resistivity rho and Seebeck coefficient S all of which are factors of thermoelectric figure of merit can be independently controlled, and it is possible to get a thermoelectric material having large dimensionless thermoelectric figure of merit ZT such as beyond 1.5.