Eur. Phys. J. B (2014) 87: 99
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjb/e2014-40794-0

Regular Article

Converting heat to electricity by a graphene stripe with heavy chiral fermions

Department of Physics and Astronomy, Northwestern University, 60208 Evanston, USA

^a e-mail: s-shafraniuk@northwestern.edu

Received: 26 August 2013
Received in final form: 5 November 2013
Published online: 23 April 2014

Abstract

A conversion of thermal energy into electricity is considered in the electrically polarized graphene stripes with zigzag edges where the heavy chiral fermion (HCF) states are formed. The stripes are characterized by a high electric conductance G_e and by a significant Seebeck coefficient S. The electric current in the stripes is induced due to a non-equilibrium thermal injection of “hot” electrons. This thermoelectric generation process might be utilized for building of thermoelectric generators with an exceptionally high figure of merit ZδT ≫ 1 and with an appreciable electric power densities ~1 MW/cm².