Thermal Conductivity of Bi2Te3 Nanowires and Nanotubes

S Li and N Stein and D Lacroix and K Termentzidis, 2015 21ST INTERNATIONAL WORKSHOP ON THERMAL INVESTIGATIONS OF ICS AND SYSTEMS (THERMINIC) (2015).

The thermal conductivity and the structural stability of Bi2Te3 nanowire and nanotubes are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations with growth orientations 0 0 1 0 1 0. The thermal conductivity of nanowires is lower than the bulk thermal conductivity by a factor of ten, while for the nanotubes by a factor of twenty. The striking result is that while the nanowires in the direction 001 are dynamically unstable, nanotubes in this direction remain stable. The stability and the ultralow thermal conductivity of Bi2Te3 nanotubes suggest improvement for next thermoelectric generation devices.

Return to Publications page