Thermoelectric Properties of p-Type PbSe Nanowires

摘要

The thermoelectric properties of individual solution-phase synthesized p-type PbSe nanowires have been examined.The nanowires showed near degenerately doped charge carrier concentrations.Compared to the bulk,the PbSe nanowires exhibited a similar Seebeck coefficient and a significant reduction in thermal conductivity in the temperature range 20 K to 300 K.Thermal annealing of the PbSe nanowires allowed their thermoelectric properties to be controllably tuned by increasing their carrier concentration or hole mobility.After optimal annealing,single PbSe nanowires exhibited a thermoelectric figure of merit(ZT)of 0.12 at room temperature.