Pnictogen and chalcogenide compounds have been seen as high-potential materials for efficient thermoelectric conversion over the past few decades. It is also known that with nanostructuration, the physical properties of these pnictogen-chalcogenide compounds can be further enhanced towards a more efficient heat conversion. Here, we report the reduced thermal conductivity of a large ensemble of Bi2Te3 alloy nanowires (70 nm in diameter) with selenium for n-type and antimony for p-type (Bi2Te3-ySey and Bi2-xSbxTe3 respectively).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 3 method is a dynamic measurement technique developed for determining the thermal conductivity of thin films or semi-infinite bulk materials. A simplified model is often applied to deduce the thermal conductivity from the slope of the real part of the ac temperature amplitude as a function of the logarithm of frequency, which in-turn brings a limitation on the kind of samples under observation. In this work, we have measured the thermal conductivity of a forest of nanowires embedded in nanoporous alumina membranes using the 3 method.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFElectrical conductivity is a key parameter to increase the performance of thermoelectric materials. However, the measurement of such performance remains complex for 1D structures, involving tedious processing. In this study, we present a non-destructive, rapid and easy approach for the characterization of electrical conductivity of Bi2Te3 based single nanowires.
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