Origins of enhanced thermoelectric power factor in topologically insulating Bi0.64Sb1.36Te3 thin films

Liu, Wei; Chi, Hang; Walrath, J. C.; Chang, A. S.; Stoica, Vladimir A.; Endicott, Lynn; Tang, Xinfeng; Goldman, R. S.; Uher, Ctirad

doi:10.1063/1.4940923

Origins of enhanced thermoelectric power factor in topologically insulating Bi_0.64Sb_1.36Te₃ thin films

Journal Article · Mon Jan 25 04:00:00 EST 2016 · Applied Physics Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4940923· OSTI ID:1370100

^[1]; Chi, Hang ^[2]; ^[2]; Chang, A. S. ^[2]; Stoica, Vladimir A. ^[2]; Endicott, Lynn ^[2]; Tang, Xinfeng ^[3]; ^[2]; Uher, Ctirad ^[2]

Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States); Wuhan Univ. of Technology, Wuhan (China)
Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI (United States)
Wuhan Univ. of Technology, Wuhan (China)

In this paper, we report the enhanced thermoelectric power factor in topologically insulating thin films of Bi_0.64Sb_1.36Te₃ with a thickness of 6–200 nm. Measurements of scanning tunneling spectroscopy and electronic transport show that the Fermi level lies close to the valence band edge, and that the topological surface state (TSS) is electron dominated. We find that the Seebeck coefficient of the 6 nm and 15 nm thick films is dominated by the valence band, while the TSS chiefly contributes to the electrical conductivity. In contrast, the electronic transport of the reference 200 nm thick film behaves similar to bulk thermoelectric materials with low carrier concentration, implying the effect of the TSS on the electronic transport is merely prominent in the thin region. The conductivity of the 6 nm and 15 nm thick film is obviously higher than that in the 200 nm thick film owing to the highly mobile TSS conduction channel. As a consequence of the enhanced electrical conductivity and the suppressed bipolar effect in transport properties for the 6 nm thick film, an impressive power factor of about 2.0 mW m^–1 K^–2 is achieved at room temperature for this film. Further investigations of the electronic transport properties of TSS and interactions between TSS and the bulk band might result in a further improved thermoelectric power factor in topologically insulating Bi_0.64Sb_1.36Te₃ thin films.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Energy Frontier Research Centers (EFRC), Washington, D.C. (United States). Center for Solar and Thermal Energy Conversion (CSTEC)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22)

Grant/Contract Number:: SC0000957; PI0000012

OSTI ID:: 1370100

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 1236107
OSTI ID: 22489381

Journal Information:: Applied Physics Letters, Journal Name: Applied Physics Letters Journal Issue: 4 Vol. 108; ISSN 0003-6951

Publisher:: American Institute of Physics (AIP)Copyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

References (34)

Vapor Annealing as a Post-Processing Technique to Control Carrier Concentrations of Bi2Te3 Thin Films Taylor, Andrew; Mortensen, Clay; Rostek, Raimar Journal of Electronic Materials, Vol. 39, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1007/s11664-009-1038-2	journal	December 2009
Room-temperature MBE deposition, thermoelectric properties, and advanced structural characterization of binary Bi2Te3 and Sb2Te3 thin films Peranio, N.; Winkler, M.; Bessas, D. Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Vol. 521 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2012.01.108	journal	April 2012
Epitaxial growth and improved electronic properties of (Bi1−Sb )2Te3 thin films grown on sapphire (0001) substrates: The influence of Sb content and the annealing Liu, Wei; Stoica, Vladimir; Chi, Hang Journal of Alloys and Compounds, Vol. 647 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jallcom.2015.06.144	journal	October 2015
Improved thermoelectric performance of highly-oriented nanocrystalline bismuth antimony telluride thin films Takashiri, Masayuki; Tanaka, Saburo; Miyazaki, Koji Thin Solid Films, Vol. 519, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tsf.2010.08.013	journal	November 2010
Identifying the Specific Nanostructures Responsible for the High Thermoelectric Performance of (Bi,Sb) ₂ Te ₃ Nanocomposites Xie, Wenjie; He, Jian; Kang, Hye Jung Nano Letters, Vol. 10, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/nl100804a	journal	September 2010
Two-Dimensional Transport-Induced Linear Magneto-Resistance in Topological Insulator Bi ₂ Se ₃ Nanoribbons Tang, Hao; Liang, Dong; Qiu, Richard L. J. ACS Nano, Vol. 5, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1021/nn2024607	journal	August 2011
Thin-film thermoelectric devices with high room-temperature figures of merit Venkatasubramanian, Rama; Siivola, Edward; Colpitts, Thomas Nature, Vol. 413, Issue 6856, p. 597-602 https://doi.org/10.1038/35098012	journal	October 2001
Band structure engineering in (Bi1−xSbx)2Te3 ternary topological insulators Zhang, Jinsong; Chang, Cui-Zu; Zhang, Zuocheng Nature Communications, Vol. 2, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms1588	journal	September 2011
Complex thermoelectric materials Snyder, G. Jeffrey; Toberer, Eric S. Nature Materials, Vol. 7, Issue 2, p. 105-114 https://doi.org/10.1038/nmat2090	journal	February 2008
On-chip cooling by superlattice-based thin-film thermoelectrics Chowdhury, Ihtesham; Prasher, Ravi; Lofgreen, Kelly Nature Nanotechnology, Vol. 4, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1038/nnano.2008.417	journal	January 2009
Evidence of the two surface states of (Bi0.53Sb0.47)2Te3 films grown by van der Waals epitaxy He, Liang; Kou, Xufeng; Lang, Murong Scientific Reports, Vol. 3, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1038/srep03406	journal	December 2013
Thermoelectric performance of films in the bismuth-tellurium and antimony-tellurium systems da Silva, Luciana W.; Kaviany, Massoud; Uher, Ctirad Journal of Applied Physics, Vol. 97, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.1914948	journal	June 2005
Magneto-resistance up to 60 Tesla in topological insulator Bi ₂ Te ₃ thin films Zhang, S. X.; McDonald, R. D.; Shekhter, A. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 101, Issue 20 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4766739	journal	November 2012
Linear magnetoresistance in topological insulator thin films: Quantum phase coherence effects at high temperatures Assaf, B. A.; Cardinal, T.; Wei, P. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 1 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4773207	journal	January 2013
Two-step growth of high quality Bi ₂ Te ₃ thin films on Al ₂ O ₃ (0001) by molecular beam epitaxy Harrison, S. E.; Li, S.; Huo, Y. Applied Physics Letters, Vol. 102, Issue 17 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4803717	journal	April 2013
Protective capping of topological surface states of intrinsically insulating Bi ₂ Te ₃ Hoefer, Katharina; Becker, Christoph; Wirth, Steffen AIP Advances, Vol. 5, Issue 9 https://doi.org/10.1063/1.4931038	journal	September 2015
Intrinsic conduction through topological surface states of insulating Bi ₂ Te ₃ epitaxial thin films Hoefer, Katharina; Becker, Christoph; Rata, Diana Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Vol. 111, Issue 42 https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1410591111	journal	October 2014
Effect of quantum-well structures on the thermoelectric figure of merit Hicks, L. D.; Dresselhaus, M. S. Physical Review B, Vol. 47, Issue 19, p. 12727-12731 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.47.12727	journal	May 1993
Quantum magnetoresistance Abrikosov, A. A. Physical Review B, Vol. 58, Issue 5 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.58.2788	journal	August 1998
Doping-dependent thermopower of PbTe from Boltzmann transport calculations Singh, David J. Physical Review B, Vol. 81, Issue 19 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.81.195217	journal	May 2010
Disentangling the magnetoelectric and thermoelectric transport in topological insulator thin films Zhang, Jinsong; Feng, Xiao; Xu, Yong Physical Review B, Vol. 91, Issue 7 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.91.075431	journal	February 2015
Observation of Time-Reversal-Protected Single-Dirac-Cone Topological-Insulator States in Bi 2 Te 3 and Sb 2 Te 3 Hsieh, D.; Xia, Y.; Qian, D. Physical Review Letters, Vol. 103, Issue 14 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.103.146401	journal	September 2009
Room Temperature Giant and Linear Magnetoresistance in Topological Insulator Bi 2 Te 3 Nanosheets Wang, Xiaolin; Du, Yi; Dou, Shixue Physical Review Letters, Vol. 108, Issue 26 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.108.266806	journal	June 2012
Thickness-Independent Transport Channels in Topological Insulator Bi 2 Se 3 Thin Films Bansal, Namrata; Kim, Yong Seung; Brahlek, Matthew Physical Review Letters, Vol. 109, Issue 11 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.109.116804	journal	September 2012
Tuning the Temperature Domain of Phonon Drag in Thin Films by the Choice of Substrate Wang, Guoyu; Endicott, Lynn; Chi, Hang Physical Review Letters, Vol. 111, Issue 4 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.046803	journal	July 2013
Enhanced Thermoelectric Performance and Anomalous Seebeck Effects in Topological Insulators Xu, Yong; Gan, Zhongxue; Zhang, Shou-Cheng Physical Review Letters, Vol. 112, Issue 22 https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.112.226801	journal	June 2014
High-Thermoelectric Performance of Nanostructured Bismuth Antimony Telluride Bulk Alloys Poudel, B.; Hao, Q.; Ma, Y. Science, Vol. 320, Issue 5876, p. 634-638 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1156446	journal	May 2008
Experimental Realization of a Three-Dimensional Topological Insulator, Bi₂Te₃ Chen, Y. L.; Analytis, J. G.; Chu, J.-H. Science, Vol. 325, Issue 5937, p. 178-181 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1173034	journal	June 2009
Quantum Oscillations and Hall Anomaly of Surface States in the Topological Insulator Bi₂Te₃ Qu, D.-X.; Hor, Y. S.; Xiong, J. Science, Vol. 329, Issue 5993, p. 821-824 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1189792	journal	July 2010
Experimental Observation of the Quantum Anomalous Hall Effect in a Magnetic Topological Insulator Chang, C. -Z.; Zhang, J.; Feng, X. Science, Vol. 340, Issue 6129 https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1234414	journal	March 2013
Spin-Orbit Interaction and Magnetoresistance in the Two Dimensional Random System Hikami, S.; Larkin, A. I.; Nagaoka, Y. Progress of Theoretical Physics, Vol. 63, Issue 2 https://doi.org/10.1143/PTP.63.707	journal	February 1980
CRC Handbook of Thermoelectrics Rowe, D. M. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781420049718	book	January 2017
Modules, Systems, and Applications in Thermoelectrics Rowe, David Michael CRC Press https://doi.org/10.1201/b11892	book	June 2012
Thermoelectric Materials for Space and Automotive Power Generation Yang, Jihui; Caillat, Thierry MRS Bulletin, Vol. 31, Issue 3 https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs2006.49	journal	March 2006

Cited By (1)

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

Figures / Tables (4)

Similar Records

Origins of enhanced thermoelectric power factor in topologically insulating Bi{sub 0.64}Sb{sub 1.36}Te{sub 3} thin films

Journal Article · Sun Jan 24 23:00:00 EST 2016 · Applied Physics Letters · OSTI ID:22489381

Related Subjects

71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS