Bach, P. L.Vila Fungueiriño, José ManuelLeborán Alvarez, VíctorFerreiro Vila, ElíasRodríguez-González, BenitoRivadulla Fernández, José Francisco2018-07-162018-07-162013Bach, P., Vila-Fungueiriño, J., Leborán, V., Ferreiro-Vila, E., Rodríguez-González, B., & Rivadulla, F. (2013). Strain-induced enhancement of the thermoelectric power in thin films of hole-doped La2NiO4+δ. APL Materials, 1(2), 021101. doi: 10.1063/1.4818356http://hdl.handle.net/10347/17039We propose a novel route for optimizing the thermoelectric power of a polaronic conductor, independent of its electronic conductivity. This mechanism is exemplified here in thin-films of La2NiO4+δ. Tensile stress induced by epitaxial growth on SrTiO3 doubles the thermoelectric power of ≈15 nm thick films relative to ≈90 nm films, while the electronic conductivity remains practically unchanged. Epitaxial strain influences the statistical contribution to the high temperature thermopower, but introduces a smaller correction to the electronic conductivity. This mechanism provides a new way for optimizing the high temperature thermoelectric performance of polaronic conductorseng© 2013 The Author(s). Published by AIP Publishing. This work is is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/journal article10.1063/1.48183562166-532Xopen access