Seebeck Effect at the Atomic Scale
Seebeck Effect at the Atomic Scale
The atomic variations of electronic wave functions at the surface and electron scattering near a defect have been detected unprecedentedly by tracing thermoelectric voltages given a temperature bias [Cho et al., Nat. Mater. 12, 913 (2013)]. Because thermoelectricity, or the Seebeck effect, is associated with heat-induced electron diffusion, how the …