Biomolecule-Assisted Hydrothermal Synthesis and Self-Assembly of Bi2Te3 Nanostring-Cluster Hierarchical Structure

Jianli Mi, Nina Lock, Ting Sun, Mogens Christensen, Martin Søndergaard, Peter Hald, Huey H. Hng, Jan Ma, Bo Brummerstedt Iversen

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    Abstract

    A simple biomolecule-assisted hydrothermal approach has been developed for the fabrication of
    Bi2Te3 thermoelectric nanomaterials. The product has a nanostring-cluster hierarchical structure which is composed
    of ordered and aligned platelet-like crystals. The platelets are100 nm in diameter and only10 nm thick
    even though a high reaction temperature of 220 °C and a long reaction time of 24 h were applied to prepare the
    sample. The growth of the Bi2Te3 hierarchical structure appears to be a self-assembly process. Initially, Te nanorods
    are formed using alginic acid as both reductant and template. Subsequently, Bi2Te3 grows in a certain direction
    on the surface of the Te rods, resulting in the nanostring structure. The nanostrings further recombine side-byside
    with each other to achieve the ordered nanostring clusters. The particle size and morphology can be controlled
    by adjusting the concentration of NaOH, which plays a crucial role on the formation mechanism of Bi2Te3. An
    even smaller polycrystalline Bi2Te3 superstructure composed of polycrystalline nanorods with some nanoplatelets
    attached to the nanorods is achieved at lower NaOH concentration. The room temperature thermoelectric
    properties have been evaluated with an average Seebeck coefficient of172 V K1, an electrical resistivity of
    1.97103m, and a thermal conductivity of 0.29 W m1 K1
    Original languageEnglish
    JournalA C S Nano
    Volume4
    Issue5
    Pages (from-to)2523–2530
    Number of pages8
    ISSN1936-0851
    Publication statusPublished - 2010

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