Impact of electric field and strain on the electronic thermal conductivity of topological crystalline insulator SnTe (001)
Abstract Topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) are a class of materials with metallic surface states on high-symmetry crystal surfaces. TCIs discovered so far have cubic structures, which, compared to the layered structure of first-generation topological insulators such as $$\text {Bi}_{2}\text...
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| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Nature Portfolio
2025-07-01
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| Series: | Scientific Reports |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-06357-3 |
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| Summary: | Abstract Topological crystalline insulators (TCIs) are a class of materials with metallic surface states on high-symmetry crystal surfaces. TCIs discovered so far have cubic structures, which, compared to the layered structure of first-generation topological insulators such as $$\text {Bi}_{2}\text {Se}_{3}$$ and $$\text {Bi}_{2}\text {Te}_{3}$$ , offer the potential for branched structures or strong coupling with other materials for large proximity effects. In the present work we implement low-energy $$\overrightarrow{\text {k}}\cdot \overrightarrow{\text {p}}$$ theory and the Green’s function technique on the tight-binding Hamiltonian to study the major electronic properties and electronic thermal conductivity (ETC) of pristine TCI SnTe (001). For the first time, we calculate the ETC of this material and explore the effects of strain and electric fields to tune its topological phase. The xx component dominates in the pristine case (5.311 $$\text {Wm}^\text {-1}\text {K}^\text {-1}$$ at room temperature) aligning well with related experimental results on similar materials. We assess the impact of uniaxial and biaxial strains, observing an overall ETC increase (up to 159% for the xx component under uniaxial strain and 215% for the xy component (Anomalous Righi-Leduc effect) under biaxial strain). Applying an electric field further enhances ETC in all components (as high as 14.367 $$\text {Wm}^\text {-1}\text {K}^\text {-1}$$ for xx component at 190 K). These findings highlight strain and electric field perturbations as effective methods to control the thermal properties of SnTe (001), offering insights into its future applications in thermoelectrics and tunable electronics. |
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| ISSN: | 2045-2322 |