ABSTRACT
In this chapter, silicon single-crystal nanowires made by selfcatalyzed chemical etching will be introduced first. Then, electrochemical deposition of Bi-Te nanoparticles onto the Si nanowires will be discussed. The thermoelectric properties of both silicon nanowires and Bi-Te capped Si nanowires are presented in view of the Seebeck coefficient, thermal conductivity, and the figure of merit. It is found that the Seebeck coefficient of the Si nanowire can be over 500 µV/K. The thermal conductivity could be as low as 1.7 W·m-1·K-1. The figure of merit is about 0.5 at 300 K. For the silicon nanowires capped with Bi-Te, the Seebeck coefficient reaches 180 µV/K. This value is four times higher than that of a single Si crystal wafer (40 µV/K).
