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Preferential growth of Bi2Te3 films with a nanolayer structure: enhancement of thermoelectric properties induced by nanocrystal boundaries

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Abstract

Preferential growth of different crystal planes in layered Bi2Te3 thin films with each layer <40 nm has been achieved by a simple magnetron co-sputtering method. The preferential growth of (015) plane or (001) was achieved at special depositing conditions due to the more sufficient growth along the in-plane direction induced by the enhanced diffusion of atoms and lower deposition rate. The Bi2Te3 film with preferential growth of (001) plane possesses about two times higher electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient as compared to the film with preferential growth of (015) plane, due to the greatly enhanced carrier mobility. Furthermore, the thermal conductivity has been suppressed due to more phonon scattering at grain boundaries, compared with ordinary Bi2Te3 alloys and films.

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Acknowledgments

This study was supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 51172008, the National High Technology Research and Development Program of China under Grant No. 2009AA03Z322.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Beijing Key Laboratory for Advanced Functional Materials and Thin Film Technology, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Beihang University, Beijing, 100191, China

    Yuan Deng, Zhiwei Zhang & Yao Wang

  2. Materials Database Station, National Institute for Materials Science, 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, 305-0047, Japan

    Yibin Xu

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  1. Yuan Deng
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  2. Zhiwei Zhang
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  3. Yao Wang
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  4. Yibin Xu
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Correspondence to Yuan Deng.

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Deng, Y., Zhang, Z., Wang, Y. et al. Preferential growth of Bi2Te3 films with a nanolayer structure: enhancement of thermoelectric properties induced by nanocrystal boundaries. J Nanopart Res 14, 775 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-012-0775-y

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