Manipulating the Interfacial Band Bending For Enhancing the Thermoelectric Properties of 1T′‐MoTe2/Bi2Te3 Superlattice Films

Abstract

AbstractInterfacial charge effects, such as band bending, modulation doping, and energy filtering, are critical for improving electronic transport properties of superlattice films. However, effectively manipulating interfacial band bending has proven challenging in previous studies. In this study, (1T′‐MoTe2)x(Bi2Te3)y superlattice films with symmetry‐mismatch were successfully fabricated via the molecular beam epitaxy. This enables to manipulate the interfacial band bending, thereby optimizing the corresponding thermoelectric performance. These results demonstrate that the increase of Te/Bi flux ratio (R) effectively tailored interfacial band bending, resulting in a reduction of the interfacial electric potential from ≈127 meV at R = 16 to ≈73 meV at R = 8. It is further verified that a smaller interfacial electric potential is more beneficial for optimizing the electronic transport properties of (1T′‐MoTe2)x(Bi2Te3)y. Especially, the (1T′‐MoTe2)1(Bi2Te3)12 superlattice film displays the highest thermoelectric power factor of 2.72 mW m−1 K−2 among all films, due to the synergy of modulation doping, energy filtering, and the manipulation of band bending. Moreover, the lattice thermal conductivity of the superlattice films is significantly reduced. This work provides valuable guidance to manipulate the interfacial band bending and further enhance the thermoelectric performances of superlattice films.