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The Polylogarithm And The Lambert W Functions In Thermoelectrics, Muralikrishna Molli, Kamisetty Venkataramaniah, Sree Ram Valluri

Physics and Astronomy Publications

In this work, we determine the conditions for the extremum of the figure of merit, theta², in a degenerate semiconductor for thermoelectric (TE) applications. We study the variation of the function theta² with respect to the reduced chemical potential mu* using relations involving polylogarithms of both integral and nonintegral orders. We present the relevant equations for the thermopower, thermal, and electrical conductivities that result in optimizing theta² and obtaining the extremum equations. We discuss the different cases that arise for various values of r, which depends on the type of carrier scattering mechanism present in the …