Strain induced peculiarities in transport properties of Bi nanowires

We report results on the effect of strain on the thermopower and electrical resistance of glass-coated individual Bi nanowires. Here, we show that there is a critical diameter of wires below which the contribution of holes to the charge transport in pure Bi nanowires is more significant than that of electrons. The properties of Bi nanowires are examined in the light of a strain induced electronic topological transition. At low temperatures, the thermopower dependences on strain exhibit a non-monotonic behavior inherent in thinner wires, where the thermopower is dominated by the diffusion transport mechanism of holes. The hole-dominated transport can be transformed into electron-dominated transport through a smooth manipulation with the phonon spectrum and Fermi surface by applying a uniaxial strain. A fairly high value of the thermoelectric power factor (S-2/rho = 89 mu W cm(-1) K-2) was found in the temperature range of 80-300 K, where the dominant mechanism contributing to the thermopower is diffusive thermoelectric generation with electrons as the majority carrier.