Theory of enhancement of thermoelectric properties of materials with nanoinclusions.

Based on the idea of Schottky potential as an energy filter for the electrons, we developed a theory that explains the enhancement of the thermoelectric properties of semiconductor materials with metallic nanoinclusions. The Boltzmann transport equation with relaxation time approximation is used for description of both electron and phonon scattering. The theory has been applied to optimize the ZT factor for n-doped PbTe with metallic nanoinclusions. We found that the contribution of electron scattering to optimized ZT is important for high electron concentration (n 3x10 cm$^{3}$), while at low concentrations (n 10 cm$^{3}$) enhancement of the ZT factor is primarily due to decrease of the phonon thermal conductivity.