Enhancing thermoelectric properties of graphene quantum rings

Abstract

We study the thermoelectric properties of rectangular graphene rings connected symmetrically or asymmetrically to the leads. A side-gate voltage applied across the ring allows for the precise control of the electric current flowing through the system. The transmission coefficient of the rings manifest Breit-Wigner line shapes and/or Fano line shapes, depending on the connection configuration, the width of nanoribbons forming the ring and the side-gate voltage. We find that the thermopower and the figure of merit are greatly enhanced when the chemical potential is tuned close to resonances. Such enhancement is even more pronounced in the vicinity of Fano-like antiresonances which can be induced by a side-gate voltage independently of the geometry. This opens a possibility to use the proposed device as a tunable thermoelectric generator.