Category: Transient Plane Source
Author(s): Alexander A. Balandin, Desalegne Teweldebrhan, Vivek Goyal
Keywords: afm, atomic force microscopy, atomic force microscopy (afm), electrical current-voltage, laser flash, micro-raman spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, scanning electron microscopy (sem), sem, tem, thermal conductivity, thermoelectric materials, tps technique, transmission electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy (tem)
Abstract: High-quality bismuth telluride crystals having a thickness of only a few atoms were prepared by a method similar to that for graphene mechanical exfoliation. The potential for these materials to be used as thermoelectric materials was then investigated. It was found that the properties of these materials could be fine-tuned by altering the thickness, or the sequence of atomic planes. “Stacked superlattices” were formed using these atomic films, and these structures were found to have reduced thermal conductivity and improved thermoelectric properties in comparison to the bulk bismuth telluride sample.
Reference: Nano Letters, 10 (2010) 1209-1218
DOI: 10.1021/nl903590b