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Lattice Thermal Conductivity Reduction In Bi2te3 Quantum Wires With Smooth And Rough Surfaces: A Molecular Dynamics Study, Bo Qiu, Lin Sun, Xiulin Ruan

Birck and NCN Publications

Using molecular dynamics simulations, we have predicted the thermal conductivity of Bi2Te3 nanowires with diameters ranging from 3 to 30 nm with both smooth and rough surfaces. It is found that when the nanowire diameter decreases to the molecular scale (below 10 nm, or the so-called "quantum wire"), the thermal conductivity shows significant reduction as compared to bulk value. On the other hand, the thermal conductivity for the 30-nm-diam nanowire only shows less than 20% reduction, in agreement with recent experimental data. Also, the thermal conductivity of nanowires shows a weaker temperature dependence than the typical T-1 trend, consistent with …