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Photolithography is an established microfabrication technique but commonly uses costly shortwavelength light sources to achieve high resolution. Here the authors use metal patterns embedded in a flexible elastomer photomask with mechanical robustness for generation of subdiffraction patterns as a cost effective near-field optical printing approach.

The anisotropy in the thermoelectric-transport properties of single-crystalline Bi nanowires was systematically investigated. Bi nanowires were grown along the crystal orientations of the [-102] and [100] directions using the on-film formation of nanowires method. The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of Bi nanowires with different diameters were measured with respect to temperature in both directions. The temperature dependence in electrical conductivity exhibited a significant diameter dependence, and significant anisotropy was observed in the Seebeck coefficient. Anisotropy was also observed in the thermoelectric power factor. The thermoelectric figure of merit was estimated using our previously reported thermal-conductivity data, which indicate that [100]-oriented Bi nanowires are more suitable for thermoelectric applications than [-102] nanowires. This is the first report of the anisotropy investigating all the thermoelectric-transport properties of single-crystalline Bi nanowires. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The electrical conductivity and Seebeck coefficient of RuO2 nanosheets are enhanced by metal nanoparticle doping using Ag-acetate solutions. In this study, RuO2 monolayer and bilayer nanosheets exfoliated from layered alkali metal ruthenates are transferred to Si substrates for device fabrication, and the temperature dependence of their conductivity and Seebeck coefficients is investigated. For pristine RuO2 nanosheets, the sign of the Seebeck coefficient changes with temperature from 350–450 K. This indicates that the dominant type of charge carrier is dependent on the temperature, and the RuO2 nanosheets show ambipolar carrier transport behavior. By contrast, the sign of the Seebeck coefficient for Ag nanoparticle-doped RuO2 nanosheets does not change with temperature, indicating that the extra charge carriers from metal nanoparticles promote n-type semiconductor behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]