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Tunable Thermal Conductivity of Silicene by Germanium Doping

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Abstract

Silicene possesses excellent electronic properties and low thermal conductivity and hence is a potential material for thermoelectric applications. The key to improve the thermoelectric efficiency of silicene relies on opening a bandgap to enhance the thermopower and suppressing the lattice thermal conductivity. Based on first-principle calculations, we propose germanium doping as an effective way to tailor the thermal conductivity of silicene. The electronic transport properties of silicene is not affected by Ge doping, while the room-temperature thermal conductivity is significantly reduced by 62 % for a doping concentration of 6 %. The depression of phonon transport is attributed to the low-frequency phonon softening and enhanced phonon scattering by Ge doping. Our theoretical results will be beneficial for experimental modulating the thermal and thermoelectric properties of silicene and many other two-dimensional materials.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the China Postdoctoral Science Foundation (2015 M570243), China National Science Foundation (11504041), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities of China (DUT15RC(3)014), the Scientific Research Fund of Liaoning Provincial Education Department (L2015124), and Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2012255).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Key Laboratory of Materials Modification by Laser, Ion and Electron Beams, Dalian University of Technology, Ministry of Education, Dalian, 116024, China

    Yu Guo, Si Zhou, Yizhen Bai & Jijun Zhao

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  1. Yu Guo
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  2. Si Zhou
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  3. Yizhen Bai
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  4. Jijun Zhao
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Correspondence to Si Zhou.

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Guo, Y., Zhou, S., Bai, Y. et al. Tunable Thermal Conductivity of Silicene by Germanium Doping. J Supercond Nov Magn 29, 717–720 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10948-015-3305-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10948-015-3305-1

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