Abstract
The diameter-dependent thermoelectric properties of individual single-crystalline Bi nanowires grown by the on-film formation of nanowires method have been investigated. The electrical resistivity, Seebeck coefficient, and thermal conductivity were measured as functions of the nanowire diameter using an individual nanowire device. The thermoelectric figure of merit (ZT) calculated from the measured thermoelectric properties shows an increase from the bulk value to a maximum value of 0.28 at 109 nm-diameter, followed by a decrease upon further decreasing the diameter. This non-monotonic diameter dependence of ZT in Bi nanowires reveals simultaneous positive and negative contributions to the thermoelectric efficiency, driven by the change in intrinsic properties, which originates from the diameter-dependent classical and quantum size effects.
Highlights
During the last twenty years, much attention has been given to low-dimensional nanostructures since Hicks and Dresselhaus first theoretically predicted the enhancement of the thermoelectric efficiency due to the quantum size effect (QSE) of quantum-well[1] and nanowire (NW)[2] structures (1993)
The HRTEM image and selected-area electron diffraction (SAED) pattern confirm that the onfilm formation of nanowires (OFFON)-grown Bi NW is a high-quality single-crystal in the [100] direction
The resistance of metals decreases with decreasing temperature, owing to the increase in the mobility, which is caused by the reduction of carrier-acoustic phonon scattering
Summary
During the last twenty years, much attention has been given to low-dimensional nanostructures since Hicks and Dresselhaus first theoretically predicted the enhancement of the thermoelectric efficiency due to the quantum size effect (QSE) of quantum-well[1] and nanowire (NW)[2] structures (1993). The diameter dependence of the thermoelectric power factor (PF, S2/ρ) was calculated using the measured resistivity and the Seebeck coefficient.
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