Kuan-Cheng Lu
;
Chetan Awasthi
;
Ta-Wei Chiu
;
S. S. Islam
;
Kimitoshi Kono
;
Kazuhito Tsukagoshi
;
Wen-Bin Jian
Collection
Citation
Description:
(abstract)Two-dimensional transition metal dichalcogenides (2D TMDs) have emerged as promising candidates for next-generation electronic devices in the post-Moore’s Law era. However, the high-power densities of these devices lead to substantial heat generation, highlighting the importance of thermoelectric generators for waste heat recovery. Among 2D TMDs, ultrathin MoS2 has shown considerable potential for applications in both nanoscale transistors and thermoelectric generators. Nevertheless, the correlation between its electrical transport and thermoelectric properties remains insufficiently understood and warrants further investigation. To address this, we fabricated thermoelectric field-effect transistors using MoS2 flakes (1 to 39 layers). We measured electrical and thermoelectric properties from 80 K to 600 K, analyzing transport behaviors using Mott's hopping transport, thermal activation, and phonon scattering theories. We especially studied their dependence on the carriers’ concentration. This analysis allowed us to extract the universal Boltzmann constant k_B and the electron’s effective mass m^*. Our findings indicate that thermoelectric performances achieve the optimum state for MoS2 flakes with thicknesses less than 20 layers, where the high-voltage output and maximum energy conversion efficiency occur at 15–20 and 1-5 layers, respectively. Notably, we present the electron's effective mass as a function of flake thickness. We identified an extrinsic effect of memory steps, caused by trapped charge release above 450 K, which significantly enhances electrical and thermoelectric properties.
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This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and AIP Publishing. This article appeared in Kuan-Cheng Lu, Chetan Awasthi, Ta-Wei Chiu, S. S. Islam, Kimitoshi Kono, Kazuhito Tsukagoshi, Wen-Bin Jian; Optimizing thermal energy harvesting in few-layer MoS2 with measurements of electron's effective mass in two-dimensional semiconductors. Appl. Phys. Rev. 1 March 2026; 13 (1): 011408 and may be found at https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0291091.
Keyword: Two-Dimensional Semiconductors, Seebeck Coefficient, MoS2, Mott’s Hopping Transport
Date published: 2026-03-01
Publisher: AIP Publishing
Journal:
- Applied Physics Reviews (ISSN: 19319401) vol. 13 issue. 1 011408
Funding:
- National Science and Technology Council NSTC-113-2124-M-A49-001-
- National Science and Technology Council NSTC- 113-2112-M-A49-026-
- National Science and Technology Council NSTC 114-2634-F-A49-001-
Manuscript type: Author's version (Submitted manuscript)
MDR DOI: https://doi.org/10.48505/nims.6121
First published URL: https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0291091
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Updated at: 2026-01-14 10:42:17 +0900
Published on MDR: 2026-01-14 12:20:08 +0900