[4] Bi2Te3 cleaves easily along the trigonal axis due to Van der Waals bonding between neighboring tellurium atoms.

Furthermore, the Seebeck coefficient of bulk Bi2Te3 becomes compensated around room temperature, forcing the materials used in power-generation devices to be an alloy of bismuth, antimony, tellurium, and selenium.

[5] Recently, researchers have attempted to improve the efficiency of Bi2Te3-based materials by creating structures where one or more dimensions are reduced, such as nanowires or thin films.

Its physical properties have been shown to change at highly reduced thicknesses, when its conducting surface states are exposed and isolated.

Common cleaning techniques such as oxygen plasma, boiling acetone and isopropyl alcohol are ineffective in removing residue.