Thermoelectric Properties of Bulk Nanowire  Assemblies:

In this project, we have evaluated the thermoelectric properties of large-scale, highly dense assemblies of nanowires. We have also enhanced the thermoelectric performance of the large-scale semiconductor nanowire pellets by optimally doping them with metals.

Some of the salient results achieved from this research project include the following:

A p-type zT value of 0.23 in copper-doped Zn3P2 nanowire pellets (this is more than two orders of magnitude higher than that observed in undoped Zn3P2 nanowire assemblies), and an n-type zT value of 0.6 in Aluminum- and Gallium-doped ZnO nanowire pellets (the highest reported zT values for any metal oxide system).      

Thermoelectric figure-of-merit of zinc phosphide and zinc oxide nanowire assemblies

Thermoelectric figure-of-merit of zinc phosphide and zinc oxide nanowire assemblies

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References:

  1. Ali, A., Shamberger, P., Vaddiraju, S. (2021). “Thermal Conductivity of Mg2Si1-xSnx Nanowire Assemblies Synthesized using Solid-State Phase Transformation of Silicon Nanowires”. Materials Research Express, 8(2), 025005. Author: Corresponding Author.

  2. Miskin, C. K., Deshmukh, S. D., Vasiraju, V., Bock, K., Mittal, G., Dubois-Camacho, A., Vaddiraju, S., Agrawal, R. (2019). “Lead Chalcogenide Nanoparticles and their Size-Controlled Self-Assemblies for Thermoelectric and Photovoltaic Applications”. ACS Applied Nano Materials, 2(3), 1242-1252. Author.

  3. Vasiraju, V., Norris, D., Vaddiraju, S. (2017). “Thermal Transport through Zn3P2 Nanowire-BN Microparticle/Nanoparticle Composites and Hybrids”. Materials Research Express, 4(7), 075041. Author: Corresponding Author.

  4. Ali, A., Chen, Y., Vasiraju, V., Vaddiraju, S. (2017). “Nanowire-Based Thermoelectrics”. Nanotechnology, 28(28), 282001. Author: Corresponding Author.

  5. Brockway, L., Vasiraju, V., Sunkara, M. K., Vaddiraju, S. (2014). “Engineering Efficient Thermoelectrics from Large-Scale Assemblies of Doped ZnO Nanowires: Nanoscale Effects and Resonant-Level Scattering”. ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces, 6(17), 14923-14930. Author: Corresponding Author.

  6. Brockway, L., Vasiraju, V., Asayesh-Ardakani, H., Shahbazian-Yassar, R., Vaddiraju, S. (2014). “Thermoelectric Properties of Large-Scale Zn3P2 Nanowire Assemblies”. Nanotechnology, 25(14), 145401. Author: Corresponding Author.

  7. Brockway, L., Vasiraju, V., Vaddiraju, S. (2014). “Compositional Disorder and its Effect on the Thermoelectric Performance of Zn3P2 Nanowire-Copper Nanoparticle Composites”. Nanotechnology, 25(12), 125402. Author: Corresponding Author.