Bismuth telluride nanostructures: preparation, thermoelectric properties and topological insulating effect

Abstract

Bismuth telluride is known to wield unique properties for a wide range of device applications. However, as devices migrate to the nanometer scale, significant amount of studies are being conducted to keep up with the rapidly growing nanotechnological field. Bi₂Te₃ possesses distinctive properties at the nanometer level from its bulk material. Therefore, varying synthesis and characterization techniques are being employed for the realization of various Bi₂Te₃ nanostructures in the past years. A considerable number of these works have aimed at improving the thermoelectric (TE) figure-of-merit (ZT) of the Bi₂Te₃ nanostructures and drawing from their topological insulating properties. This paper reviews the various Bi₂Te₃ and Bi₂Te₃-based nanostructures realized via theoretical and experimental procedures. The study probes the preparation techniques, TE properties and the topological insulating effects of 0D, 1D, 2D and Bi₂Te₃ nanocomposites. With several applications as a topological insulator (TI), the topological insulating effect of the Bi₂Te₃ is reviewed in detail with the time reversal symmetry (TRS) and surface state spins which characterize TIs. Schematics and preparation methods for the various nanostructural dimensions are accordingly categorized.

Keywords

Bi₂Te₃ nanostructure / thermoelectric property / topological insulator (TI)

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 11104010, 61474014 and 51272038) and the National Basic Research Program (973) of China (2013CB933301).

RIGHTS & PERMISSIONS

2014 Higher Education Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg