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Direct Mapping of Local Seebeck Coefficient in 2D Material Nanostructures via Scanning Thermal Gate Microscopy

Local variations in the Seebeck coefficient in low-dimensional materials-based nanostructures and devices play a major role in their thermoelectric performance. Unfortunately, currently most thermoelectric measurements probe the aggregate characteristics of the device as a whole, failing to observe the effects of the local variations and internal structure. Such variations can be caused by local defects, geometry, electrical contacts or interfaces and often substantially influence thermoelectric properties, most profoundly in two-dimensional (2D) materials. Here, we use Scanning Thermal Gate Microscopy (STGM), a non-invasive method not requiring an electrical contact between the nanoscale tip and the probed sample, to obtain nanoscale resolution 2D maps of the thermovoltage in graphene samples. We investigate a junction formed between single-layer and bilayer graphene and identify the impact of internal strain and Fermi level pinning by the contacts using a deconvolution method to directly map the local Seebeck coefficient. The new approach paves the way for an in-depth understanding of thermoelectric behaviour and phenomena in 2D materials nanostructures and devices.