Bismuth
telluride (Bi2Te3), a thermoelectric
material, has gained tremendous attention for its high thermoelectric
figure of merit (ZT) at room temperature. Recent
experimental studies have demonstrated that incorporating graphene
into Bi2Te3 can further enhance the ZT by reducing the thermal conductivity and increasing the
power factor of the Bi2Te3/graphene composites.
The interfacial thermal resistance (ITR) between Bi2Te3 and graphene plays a crucial role in determining the thermal
conductivities of these composites. In the present study, we investigate
the ITR between Bi2Te3 and graphene using nonequilibrium
molecular dynamics simulations. We systematically explore the effects
of graphene layer number, defects in graphene, and mechanical strain
on the ITR. Our results reveal that the ITR increases with an increase
in the number of graphene layers, reaching a stabilized value at five
layers. Furthermore, the presence of vacancy defects in graphene reduces
the ITR, with a higher defect density leading to greater reduction
in the ITR. Remarkably, the mechanical strain has a profound impact
on the ITR. At a tensile strain of 2.5%, the ITR more than quadruples,
while a compressive strain of 4% reduces the ITR by about 60% compared
to the strain-free condition. These findings offer valuable insights
for manipulating the ITR in Bi2Te3/graphene
composites with enhanced thermoelectric performance.