Anish Kumar,
- Assistant Professor, Mechanical engineering department, BIT Sindri, Dhanbad, Jharkhand, India
Abstract
Thermoelectric materials capable of efficient energy conversion near room temperature are critical for
waste heat recovery applications. In this work, solution-grown Bi2Te3 nanorods were synthesized via a
trioctylphosphine-assisted thermal decomposition route, and the influence of surfactant-induced
nanostructuring on their thermoelectric properties was systematically investigated. Structural analysis
using X-ray diffraction and Rietveld refinement confirmed the formation of rhombohedral Bi2Te3 with
the emergence of Bi2Te3–BiTe nanocomposites at higher surfactant concentrations. Electron
microscopy revealed one-dimensional nanorods with crystallite sizes tunable down to ~40 nm. Raman
spectroscopy showed the appearance of IR-active A1u modes, indicating a ligand-induced breakdown
of inversion symmetry due to the formation of sub-quintuple layers along the nanorod axis.
Thermoelectric measurements demonstrated n-type conduction with a significant enhancement in
Seebeck coefficient attributed to carrier energy filtering at grain boundaries and quantum confinement
effects. An optimized surfactant concentration yielded a maximum power factor of 348.7 μW m−1 K−2 at
300 K, exceeding values reported for comparable solution-processed Bi2Te3 systems. The combined
effects of reduced crystallite size, controlled barrier height, and nanocomposite formation establish
surfactant-engineered Bi2Te3 nanorods as promising candidates for high-performance near-room-
temperature thermoelectric applications
Keywords: Thermoelectric materials, Bi2Te3 nanorods, solution growth, energy filtering, nanocomposites
[This article belongs to Research & Reviews : Journal of Physics ]
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Research & Reviews : Journal of Physics
| Volume | 15 | |
| Issue | 02 | |
| Received | 10/03/2026 | |
| Accepted | 30/05/2026 | |
| Published | 30/06/2026 | |
| Publication Time | 112 Days |