Thermoelectric Performance Study of Graphene Antidot Lattices on Different Substrates

Pristine graphene has low thermoelectric performance due to its ultra-high thermal conductivity and a low Seebeck coefficient, the latter of which results from the zero-band gap of graphene. To improve the thermoelectric performance of graphene-based materials, various methods have been proposed to open a band gap in graphene. Graphene antidot lattices is one of the most effective methods to reach this goal by patterning periodic nano- or sub-1-nm pores (antidots) across graphene. In high-porosity graphene antidot lattices, charge carriers mainly flow through the narrow necks between pores, forming a comparable case as graphene nanoribbons. This will open a geometry-dependent band gap and dramatically increase the Seebeck coefficient. The antidots also strongly scatter phonons, leading to a dramatically reduced lattice thermal conductivity to further enhance the thermoelectric performance. In computations, the thermoelectric figure of merit of a graphene antidot lattices was predicted to be around 1.0 at 300 K but experimental validation is still required. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of graphene antidot lattices on various substrates including SiO2, SiC and hexagonal boron nitride were measured. The antidots were drilled with a focused ion beam or reactive ion etching.