Quantum Interference Enhanced Thermoelectricity in Ferrocene Based Molecular Junctions

Abstract

Recent experimental indications of room-temperature quantum interference in the sub-nanometer single molecules suggest that such effects could be utilized to engineer thermoelectric properties of organic single molecule junctions. In this paper, we show that the thermoelectric power factor is significantly enhanced in double path ferrocene cycles compared to the single path counterpart. Due to quantum interference in the double path structure, the Seebeck coefficient is significantly enhanced while the conductance is less affected compared to single path structure. The power factor of the ferrocene cycles are 1–2 orders of magnitude higher than the best organic material reported today. This opens new avenues for future molecular scale organometallic thermoelectricity.