Optical and transport properties of few quintuple-layers of Bi2-xSbxSe3 nanoflakes synthesized by hydrothermal method

Abstract Hydrothermal synthesis as a commonly bottom-up growth method has considerable advantages for manufacturing thermoelectric nanomaterials with advanced thermoelectric properties. However, the hydrothermally synthesized thermoelectric nanostructures often show a low thermoelectric performance due to their low power factor. In this work, we report on using a hydrothermal method for the growth of n-type Bi2-xSbxSe3 nanoflakes with a fixed thickness of ∼16 quintuple-layers. The controlling of the stoichiometric composition, phase purity and crystallinity of the Bi2-xSbxSe3 nanoflakes are demonstrated by the X-ray diffraction, Raman spectroscopy, and high resolution transmission electron microscopy. We further prove that adding of antimony into Bi2Se3 compound mostly influences the in-plane vibration mode. The optical energy gap is sharply increased as the Sb content increases. The effect of the antimony incorporation on the electrical conductivity, Seebeck coefficient and power factor of Bi2-xSbxSe3 nanoflakes is systematically investigated. The Bi1.92Sb0.08Se3 sample is found to have the highest power factor ∼13.17 μW/cm.K2 at 470 K which is much higher than those published for other various nanostructured or bulk Bi2Se3 compounds. The results propose a great prospect for further enhancing the thermoelectric power factor of the Bi2Se3 nanostructures synthesized by this hydrothermal method. Taking into consideration the progress in Bi–Se compounds, the results of this work advocate the promise of Bi–Se nanostructures towards producing high performance thermoelectric devices.