Atomic Layer-by-Layer Thermoelectric Conversion in Topological Insulator Bismuth/Antimony Tellurides

Cited 42 time in webofscience Cited 0 time in scopus
  • Hit : 580
  • Download : 0
Material design for direct heat-to-electricity conversion with substantial efficiency essentially requires cooperative control of electrical and thermal transport. Bismuth telluride (Bi2Te3) and antimony telluride (Sb2Te3), displaying the highest thermoelectric power at room temperature, are also known as topological insulators (TIs) whose electronic structures are modified by electronic confinements and strong spin orbit interaction in a-few-monolayers thickness regime, thus possibly providing another degree of freedom for electron and phonon transport at surfaces. Here, we explore novel thermoelectric conversion in the atomic monolayer steps of a-few-layer topological insulating Bi2Te3 (n-type) and Sb2Te3 (p-type). Specifically, by scanning photoinduced thermoelectric current imaging at the monolayer steps, we show that efficient thermoelectric conversion is accomplished by optothermal motion of hot electrons (Bi2Te3) and holes (Sb2Te3) through 2D subbands and topologically protected surface states in a geometrically deterministic manner. Our discovery suggests that the thermoelectric conversion can be interiorly achieved at the atomic steps of a homogeneous medium by direct exploiting of quantum nature of TIs, thus providing a new design rule for the compact thermoelectric circuitry at the ultimate size limit.
Publisher
AMER CHEMICAL SOC
Issue Date
2014-07
Language
English
Article Type
Article
Keywords

BISMUTH TELLURIDE; GRAPHENE; PHOTOCURRENT; TRANSPORT; BI2TE3; NANOSTRUCTURES; PERFORMANCE; CROSSOVER; CRYSTALS; BI2SE3

Citation

NANO LETTERS, v.14, no.7, pp.4030 - 4035

ISSN
1530-6984
DOI
10.1021/nl501468k
URI
http://hdl.handle.net/10203/238867
Appears in Collection
MS-Journal Papers(저널논문)
Files in This Item
There are no files associated with this item.
This item is cited by other documents in WoS
⊙ Detail Information in WoSⓡ Click to see webofscience_button
⊙ Cited 42 items in WoS Click to see citing articles in records_button

qr_code

  • mendeley

    citeulike


rss_1.0 rss_2.0 atom_1.0