Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 1, 2026

Author Spotlight: Advancements in High-Performance Thermoelectric Thin Films Through Radio Frequency Magnetron Sputtering
Published on: May 17, 2024
Thermoelectric properties of an ultra-thin topological insulator
1Department of Physics, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, Kanpur-208 016, India.
Abstract:
Thermoelectric coefficients of an ultra-thin topological insulator are presented here. The hybridization between top and bottom surface states of a topological insulator plays a significant role. In the absence of a magnetic field, the thermopower increases and thermal conductivity decreases with an increase in the hybridization energy. In the presence of a magnetic field perpendicular to the ultra-thin topological insulator, thermoelectric coefficients exhibit quantum oscillations with inverse magnetic field, whose frequency is strongly modified by the Zeeman energy and whose phase factor is governed by the product of the Landé g-factor and the hybridization energy. In addition to the numerical results, the low-temperature approximate analytical results for the thermoelectric coefficients are also provided. It is also observed that for a given magnetic field these transport coefficients oscillate with hybridization energy, at a frequency that depends on the Landé g-factor.
Related Concept Videos
Types of Semiconductors
Types Of Superconductors
Superconductor
Fermi Level
At absolute zero temperature, electrons fill all energy states up to the Fermi level, leaving upper states empty. As the temperature rises,...
Theory of Metallic Conduction
In this theory, Newton's second law of motion is used to determine the acceleration of an electron in the presence of an applied electric field. Then, its velocity is expressed via this acceleration.
An electron moves through the crystal, containing positive ions,...
Semiconductors
Metals such as copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), or lead (Pb) have low resistivity and feature conduction bands that are either not fully occupied or overlap with the valence band, making a bandgap non-existent. This allows electrons in the highest energy levels of the valence band to easily transition to the conduction band upon gaining...

