Thermal and Thermoelectric Transport in Highly Resistive Single Sb2Se3 Nanowires and Nanowire Bundles

Abstract

Abstract In this study, we measured the thermal conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of single Sb 2 Se 3 nanowires and nanowire bundles with a high resistivity (σ ~ 4.37 × 10 −4 S/m). Microdevices consisting of two adjacent suspended silicon nitride membranes were fabricated to measure the thermal transport properties of the nanowires in vacuum. Single Sb 2 Se 3 nanowires with different diameters and nanowire bundles were carefully placed on the device to bridge the two membranes. The relationship of temperature difference on each heating/sensing suspension membranes with joule heating was accurately determined. A single Sb 2 Se 3 nanowire with a diameter of ~ 680 nm was found to have a thermal conductivity (k NW ) of 0.037 ± 0.002 W/m·K. The thermal conductivity of the nanowires is more than an order of magnitude lower than that of bulk materials (k ~ 0.36–1.9 W/m·K) and highly conductive (σ ~ 3 × 10 4 S/m) Sb 2 Se 3 single nanowires (k ~ 1 W/m·K). The measured Seebeck coefficient with a positive value of ~ 661 μV/K is comparable to that of highly conductive Sb 2 Se 3 single nanowires (~ 750 μV/K). The thermal transport between wires with different diameters and nanowire bundles was compared and discussed.