Enhanced thermoelectric properties of coaxial Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 nanostructures studied by theoretical modeling

Abstract

Critical thermoelectric parameters including Seebeck coefficient, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity and figure of merit ZT of one-dimensional coaxial Bi2Te3/Sb2Te3 nanocomposite were modeled by following the single carrier pocket and sharp interface assumptions. A calculation scheme based on Landauer approach, instead of commonly used Boltzmann transport equation (BTE) with relaxation time approximation, was adopted to numerically obtain the transmission functions which can be used to evaluate thermoelectric properties. Considerable enhancement of ZT was obtained through our modeling and numerical calculation, and the corresponding dependence of thermoelectric performance on structure parameters was studied. Finally, the efficiency at the maximum power condition for this 1-D system was also investigated.