A strategy for low thermal conductivity and enhanced thermoelectric power factor in one-dimensional Bi2Te3/Cu2Te nanowire composites

Abstract

One-dimensional (1D) nanostructured composites consisting of Bi2Te3 and Cu2Te nanowires (NWs) were fabricated with various Cu2Te NW content, and their thermoelectric (TE) properties were examined. Bi2Te3/Cu2Te NW composites were produced from two NWs, which were fabricated using a Te NW. The maximum power factor of the Bi2Te3/Cu2Te NW composite at room temperature was 20 wt% of Cu2Te (595.4 μ W/m K2), which was was ~ 1.2 times higher than the pristine Bi2Te3 NW’s maximum power factor. In addition, low thermal conductivity was derived from their 1D nanostructure. The maximum thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) of 0.376 was achieved at room temperature with the 20 wt% of the Cu2Te composite due to its enhanced power factor and reduced thermal conductivity. This value was approximately 1.46 times larger than the pure Bi2Te3 NW sample’s thermoelectric figure of merit.