Tuning thermoelectricity in a Bi2Se3 topological insulator via varied film thickness

Guo, Minghua; Wang, Zhenyu; Xu, Yong; Huang, Huaqing; Zang, Yunyi; Liu, Chang; Duan, Wenhui; Gan, Zhongxue; Zhang, Shou-Cheng; He, Ke; Ma, Xucun; Xue, Qikun; Wang, Yayu

doi:10.1088/1367-2630/18/1/015008

Title: Tuning thermoelectricity in a Bi₂Se₃ topological insulator via varied film thickness

Journal Article · Tue Jan 12 00:00:00 EST 2016 · New Journal of Physics

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1088/1367-2630/18/1/015008· OSTI ID:1254485

Guo, Minghua ^[1]; Wang, Zhenyu ^[1]; Xu, Yong ^[2]; Huang, Huaqing ^[1]; Zang, Yunyi ^[1]; Liu, Chang ^[1]; Duan, Wenhui ^[3]; Gan, Zhongxue ^[4]; Zhang, Shou-Cheng ^[5]; He, Ke ^[6]; Ma, Xucun ^[6]; Xue, Qikun ^[6]; Wang, Yayu ^[6]

Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics
Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing (China); RIKEN Center for Emergent Matter Science (CEMS), Wako (Japan)
Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing (China); Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). Institute for Advanced Study
ENN Intelligent Energy Group, Langfang (China)
ENN Intelligent Energy Group, Langfang (China); Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Physics
Tsinghua Univ., Beijing (China). State Key Laboratory of Low Dimensional Quantum Physics; Collaborative Innovation Center of Quantum Matter, Beijing (China)

We report thermoelectric transport studies on Bi₂Se₃ topological insulator thin films with varied thickness grown by molecular beam epitaxy. We find that the Seebeck coefficient and thermoelectric power factor decrease systematically with the reduction of film thickness. These experimental observations can be explained quantitatively by theoretical calculations based on realistic electronic band structure of the Bi₂Se₃ thin films. Lastly, this work illustrates the crucial role played by the topological surface states on the thermoelectric transport of topological insulators, and sheds new light on further improvement of their thermoelectric performance.

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Research Organization:: Stanford Univ., CA (United States). Dept. of Physics

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-76SF00515

OSTI ID:: 1254485

Journal Information:: New Journal of Physics, Vol. 18, Issue 1; ISSN 1367-2630

Publisher:: IOP PublishingCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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Cited by: 43 works

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Thermoelectric Properties of Topological Insulators Ivanov, Yuri V.; Burkov, Alexander T.; Pshenay-Severin, Dmitry A. physica status solidi (b), Vol. 255, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1002/pssb.201800020	journal	April 2018
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Title: Tuning thermoelectricity in a Bi₂Se₃ topological insulator via varied film thickness