Thermal transport along Bi2Te3 topological insulator nanowires

CX Yu and G Zhang and LM Peng and WH Duan and YW Zhang, APPLIED PHYSICS LETTERS, 105, 023903 (2014).

DOI: 10.1063/1.4890846

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we investigate the thermal conductivity and local heat flux distribution of Bi2Te3 nanowires. It is found that at room temperature, the converged length-independent thermal conductivity of Bi2Te3 nanowires is only 0.89 W/m K, which is about 2-fold lower than their bulk counterpart. Interestingly, the local heat flux density along the quintet boundary layer is only about 18% of that along the central layers due to different phonon edge scattering intensities. Our work demonstrates that topological insulator nanostructures are promising candidates for the development of high- performance thermoelectric devices for applications in nanoscale energy generation and temperature management. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.

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