Electrochemical route to thermoelectric nanowires via organic electrolytes

Abstract

AbstractThermoelectric nanowires have been predicted to have superior properties compared to their bulk counterparts due to quantum confinement. We present the synthesis of chalcogenide nanowires A2B3 (A = Bi, Sb; B = S, Se, Te) and PbB (B = S, Se, Te) by electrochemical deposition into highly ordered porous Al2O3 membranes. The narrow pore size distribution of the templates reproducibly yields very homogeneous nanowires upon electrodeposition into the pores. The thermoelectric nanowires presented here were deposited from nonaqueous electrolytes based on Bi3+ and S (and their heavier counterparts). The transmission electron microscopy investigations on released nanowires show the homogeneous growth behavior of the material. We will present data on the Seebeck coefficients of nanowire ensembles of various IV–VI and V–VI materials embedded in the porous template.