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Nano Research 2015, 8(2): 666-672 https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0550-8
Research Article | Issue | Published: 09 September 2014

Thermoelectric transport across graphene/hexagonal boron nitride/graphene heterostructures

Show Author's Information Chun-Chung Chen1,  Zhen Li1,  Li Shi2,  Stephen B. Cronin1( )
Department of Electrical EngineeringUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCA90089USA
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Texas Materials InstituteUniversity of Texas at AustinAustinTexas78712USA
Keywords:
heterostructure, graphene, thermoelectric, boron nitride, 2D materials
Cite this article:
Chen C-C, Li Z, Shi L, et al. Thermoelectric transport across graphene/hexagonal boron nitride/graphene heterostructures. Nano Research, 2015, 8(2): 666-672. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12274-014-0550-8
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Abstract Full text Electronic supplementary material About this article

We report thermoelectric transport measurements across a graphene/hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)/graphene heterostructure device. Using an AC lock-in technique, we are able to separate the thermoelectric contribution to the I–V characteristics of these important device structures. The temperature gradient is measured optically using Raman spectroscopy, which enables us to explore thermoelectric transport produced at material interfaces, across length scales of just 1–2 nm. Based on the observed thermoelectric voltage (ΔV) and temperature gradient (ΔT), a Seebeck coefficient of -99.3 μV/K is ascertained for the heterostructure device. The obtained Seebeck coefficient can be useful for understanding the thermoelectric component in the cross-plane I–V behaviors of emerging 2D heterostructure devices. These results provide an approach to probing thermoelectric energy conversion in two-dimensional layered heterostructures.


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Electronic supplementary material
About this article

Thermoelectric transport across graphene/hexagonal boron nitride/graphene heterostructures

Show Author's information Chun-Chung Chen1, Zhen Li1, Li Shi2, Stephen B. Cronin1( )
Department of Electrical EngineeringUniversity of Southern CaliforniaLos AngelesCA90089USA
Department of Mechanical Engineering and Texas Materials InstituteUniversity of Texas at AustinAustinTexas78712USA

Abstract

We report thermoelectric transport measurements across a graphene/hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN)/graphene heterostructure device. Using an AC lock-in technique, we are able to separate the thermoelectric contribution to the I–V characteristics of these important device structures. The temperature gradient is measured optically using Raman spectroscopy, which enables us to explore thermoelectric transport produced at material interfaces, across length scales of just 1–2 nm. Based on the observed thermoelectric voltage (ΔV) and temperature gradient (ΔT), a Seebeck coefficient of -99.3 μV/K is ascertained for the heterostructure device. The obtained Seebeck coefficient can be useful for understanding the thermoelectric component in the cross-plane I–V behaviors of emerging 2D heterostructure devices. These results provide an approach to probing thermoelectric energy conversion in two-dimensional layered heterostructures.

Keywords: heterostructure, graphene, thermoelectric, boron nitride, 2D materials

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Publication history
Copyright
Acknowledgements

Publication history

Received: 27 May 2014
Revised: 08 July 2014
Accepted: 28 July 2014
Published: 09 September 2014
Issue date: February 2015

Copyright

© Tsinghua University Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014

Acknowledgements

Acknowledgements

This research was supported by DOE Award Nos. DE-FG02-07ER46376 and DE-FG02-07ER46377.

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