Exceptional thermoelectric power factors in hyperdoped, fully dehydrogenated nanocrystalline silicon thin films

Single-crystalline silicon is well known to be a poor thermoelectric material due to its high thermal conductivity. Most excellent research has focused on ways to decrease its thermal conductivity while retaining acceptably large power factors (PFs). Less effort has been spent to enhance the PF in poly- and nanocrystalline silicon, instead. Here, we show that in boron-hyperdoped nanocrystalline thin films, the PF may be increased up to 33 mW K−2 m−1 at 300 K when hydrogen embedded in the film during deposition is removed. The result makes nanocrystalline Si a realistic competitor of Bi2Te3 for low-temperature heat harvesting, also due to its greater geo-availability and lower cost.