Stress-induced growth of single-crystalline lead telluride nanowires and their thermoelectric transport properties

Uniform single-crystal lead telluride (PbTe) nanowires (NWs) were synthesized using a stress-induced method, which is an alternative technique for synthesizing PbTe NWs without a catalyst. The thermoelectrical transport measurement of a NW with a diameter of 217 nm exhibited a notable enhancement over the room-temperature thermopower of −342 μV K−1, which was approximately 95% larger than the bulk of PbTe. The power factor of 104 μW m−1 K−2 is also higher than any previously reported power factor in PbTe NWs.