Synthesis of bismuth telluride nanomaterials

Bismuth telluride has been shown to exhibit interesting thermoelectric properties that convert heat to electricity. The goal of this project is to design a method for producing bismuth telluride films on silicon wafers.

The purpose of this experiment is to synthesize nanomaterials of bismuth telluride using the chemical exfoliation method. We have successfully used chemical exfoliation to prepare molybdenum disulfide nanomaterials and films.

We wanted to see if the same approach could be applied to bulk bismuth telluride to prepare thin films (2-dimensional materials). The films will be analyzed using Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), optical microscopy, and Raman spectroscopy.

We are also interested in studying the depth and density of deposited bismuth telluride films on silicon wafers.