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Tellurene, probably one of the most promising two-dimensional (2D) system in the thermoelectric materials, displays ultra-low thermal conductivity. However, a linear thickness-dependent thermal conductivity of unique tellurium nanoribbons in this study reveals that unprecedently low thermal conductivity can be achieved via well-defined nanostructures of low-dimensional tellurium instead of pursuing dimension-reduced 2D tellurene. For thinnest tellurium nanoribbon with thickness of 144 nm, the thermal conductivity is only ~1.88 ± 0.22 W·m−1·K−1 at room temperature. It's a dramatic decrease (45%), compared with the well-annealed high-purity bulk tellurium. To be more specific, an expected thermal conductivity of tellurium nanoribbons is even lower than that of 2D tellurene, as a result of strong phonon-surface scattering. We have faith in low-dimensional tellurium in which the thermoelectric performance could realize further breakthrough.
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