Nanostructures for thermoelectric applications: synthesis, growth mechanism, and property studies.
Both heterostructures and hollow nanostructures have been predicted as candidates with excellent thermoelectric performance. In this Research News areticle, recent advances with regard to synthetic strategies, growth mechanisms, and thermoelectric properties of one-dimensional heterostructures (segmented and core/shell) and tubular nanostructures are reported. The thermoelectric property studies of Te/Bi core/shell heterostructured nanowires and Bi(2)Te(3) nanotubes indicate that the Seebeck coefficient and thermal conductivity of these materials can be optimized to improve their thermoelectric performance. In addition, the current issues and future research directions for promising thermoelectric nanostructures will be discussed on the basis of these experimental results.
Zhang
Genqiang
G
Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at Microscale Department of Physics University of Science and Technology of China, Anhui, P R China.
Yu
Qingxuan
Q
Wang
Wei
W
Li
Xiaoguang
X
D003460:Crystallization / Q000379:methods*; D011211:Electric Power Supplies; D004560:Electricity; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D006358:Hot Temperature; D008422:Materials Testing; D049329:Nanostructures / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000648:ultrastructure*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation*