Quantum dots are an important model system for thermoelectric phenomena, and may be used to enhance the thermal-to-electric energy conversion efficiency in functional materials. It is therefore important to obtain a detailed understanding of a quantum-dots thermopower as a function of the Fermi energy. However, so far it has proven difficult to take effects of co-tunnelling into account in the interpretation of experimental data. Here we show that a single-electron tunnelling model, using knowledge of the dots electrical conductance which in fact includes all-order co-tunneling effects, predicts the thermopower of quantum dots as a function of the relevant energy scales, in very good agreement with experiment.
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