Theoretical modeling of thermoelectricity in Bi nanowires

A theoretical model based on the basic electronic band structure of bulk Bi is developed to predict the dependence of the band structure and thermoelectric properties on the nanowire width. By carefully tailoring the Bi wire size and carrier concentration, substantial enhancement in the thermoelectric figure of merit is expected for small nanowire widths. The model calculations show that Bi nanowires, when appropriately doped by optimizing the energy of the chemical potential to maximize the thermoelectric figure of merit, are potentially interesting for thermoelectric applications if their wire diameters can be made less than 10 nm.