Nanosilicon and thermoelectricity

This chapter focuses on the ways ZT may be improved in silicon by nanotechnology. It describes the profound interplay between preparation methods and thermoelectric performances will be reviewed; both top-down and bottom-up methods. Thermoelectricity is the onset of transport phenomena in which heat or charge current are cross-driven by temperature gradients or electric fields. The most common thermoelectric phenomena are heat currents flowing as a result of the application of an electric field, and electric fields setting up as a result of a temperature difference. In addition, a major side effect of the discovery of high ZT in dimensionally constrained systems has been the attempt to also use nanotechnology to enhance the thermoelectric figure of merit in bulk materials. After providing an overview of the thermoelectric theory in nondimensionally constrained systems that will be extended to one-dimensional (1D) and two-dimensional materials, the state of the art of silicon nanowires and nanolayers for thermoelectric applications.