Large anisotropic thermal transport properties observed in bulk single crystal black phosphorus

Abstract

The anisotropy of thermal transport properties for bulk black phosphorus (BP) single crystal, which might be of particular interest in the fabrication of thermoelectric/optoelectronic devices, was investigated by using angular dependent thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient measurements at various temperatures. We found that the maximum thermal conductivities in x (zigzag), y (armchair), and z (perpendicular to the puckered layers) directions are 34, 17, and 5 W m−1 K−1, respectively, exhibiting large anisotropy. At temperature around 200 K, a large Seebeck coefficient up to +487 ± 10 μV/K has been obtained in x direction, which is 1.5 times higher than that in z direction. The large anisotropy of thermal transport properties can be understood from the crystal structure and bonding characters of BP. In addition, the energy gap has been obtained from nuclear spin lattice relaxation measurements, which is consistent with the value derived from temperature-dependent Seebeck coefficient measurements.