Nanocomposites with high thermoelectric figures of merit

A thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising:

• a semiconductor host material, and
• a plurality of nano-sized inclusions distributed randomly within said host material, said inclusions being formed of a semiconductor inclusion material,
• wherein the conduction band-edge offset or a valence band-edge offset between said host material and the inclusion material at an interface of the two material is less than about 5kBT, wherein kB is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition, and
• wherein at least a portion of said inclusion material comprises dopants.

A thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising:

• a semiconductor host material, and
• a plurality of nano-sized inclusions distributed randomly within said host material, said inclusions being formed of a semiconductor inclusion material,
• wherein the conduction band-edge offset or a valence band-edge offset between said host material and the inclusion material at an interface of the two materials is less than about 5kBT, wherein kB is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition, and
• wherein said host material comprises an alloy.

A thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising:

• a semiconductor host material, and
• a plurality of nano-sized inclusions distributed randomly within said host material, said inclusions being formed of a semiconductor inclusion material,
• wherein the conduction band-edge offset or a valence band-edge offset between said host material and the inclusion material at an interface of the two materials is less than about 5kBT, wherein kB is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition, and
• wherein said host material comprises a SiGe alloy and said inclusion material comprises Ge.

A thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, composition:

• a semiconductor host material, and
• a plurality of nano-sized inclusions distributed randomly within said host material, said inclusions being formed of a semiconductor inclusion material,
• wherein the conduction band-edge or a valence band-edge offset between said host material and the inclusion material at an interface of the two materials is less than about 5kBT, wherein kB is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition, and,
• wherein said host material and said inclusion material comprise SiGe alloys with different relative concentration of Si and Ge.

A thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising:

• a semiconductor host material, and
• a plurality of nano-sized inclusions distributed randomly within said host material, said inclusions being formed of a semiconductor inclusion material,
• wherein the conduction band-edge offset or a valence band-edge offset between said host material and the inclusion material at an interface of the two materials is less than about 5kBT, wherein kB is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition, and
• wherein said host material comprises Ge and said inclusion material comprises a SiGe core and a Si outer shell.

A thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising:

• a semiconductor host material, and
• a plurality of nano-sized inclusions distributed randomly within said host material, said inclusions being formed of a semiconductor inclusion material,
• wherein the conduction band-edge offset or a valence band-edge offset between said host material and the inclusion material at an interface of the two materials is less than about 5kBT, wherein kB is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition, and,
• wherein said host material comprises PbTe and said inclusion material comprises any of PbSe or PbSeTe.

A thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising:

• a semiconductor host material, and
• a plurality of nano-sized inclusions distributed randomly within said host material, said inclusions being formed of a semiconductor inclusion material,
• wherein the conduction band-edge offset or a valence band-edge offset between said host material and the inclusion material at an interface of the two materials is less than about 5kBT, wherein kB is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition, and,
• wherein said host material comprises Bi2Te3 and said inclusion material comprises any of Sb2Te3 or Bi2Se3.

A thermoelectric nanocomposite semiconductor composition, comprising:

• a semiconductor host material, and
• a plurality of nano-sized inclusions distributed randomly within said host material, said inclusions being formed of a semiconductor inclusion material,
• wherein the conduction band-edge offset or a valence band-edge offset between said host material and the inclusion material at an interface of the two materials is less than about 5kBT, wherein kB is the Boltzman constant and T is an average temperature of said nanocomposite composition, and
• wherein said host material comprises Ge and said inclusion material comprises a SiGe core and a SiGe outer shell, wherein the core and the shell have different concentrations of Si relative to Ge.