Over the past two decades several nano-structuring methods have helped improve the figure of merit (ZT) in the state-of-the art bulk thermoelectric materials. While these methods could enhance the thermoelectric performance of p-type Bi2Te3, it was frustrating to researchers that they proved ineffective for n-type Bi2Te3 due to the inevitable deterioration of its thermoelectric properties in the basal plane. Here, we describe a novel chemical-exfoliation spark-plasma-sintering (CE-SPS) nano-structuring process, which transforms the microstructure of n-type Bi2Te3 in an extraordinary manner without compromising its basal plane properties. The CE-SPS processing leads to preferential scattering of electrons at charged grain boundaries, and thereby increases the electrical conductivity despite the presence of numerous grain boundaries, and mitigates the bipolar effect via band occupancy optimization leading to an upshift (by ~ 100 K) and stabilization of the ZT peak over a broad temperature range of ~ 150 K.

We explore the effects of crystallite size (L(a)) on the linear and non-linear optical properties of chemical vapor deposition grown polycrystalline graphene. The π-plasmon resonance present at ∼4.75 eV (∼260 nm) in the optical absorption spectrum of graphene follows the empirical relationship λ(π) = 250.5 nm + 89.5 nm(2)/L(a), where λ(π) represents the π-plasmon wavelength. Furthermore, our Z-scan studies reveal that the crystallite size significantly changes the saturation intensity in CVD grown graphene. Notably, in comparison to epitaxial graphene layers grown on SiC wafers which exhibit a photogenerated carrier lifetime of few picoseconds, we find that the photogenerated carriers in our CVD grown graphene can exhibit lifetimes as long as nanoseconds.

Interface modification in transport properties of single elemental polycrystalline Bi via spark plasma sintering results in 'double-decoupling' (simultaneous decoupling of thermopower, electrical, and thermal conductivity) of otherwise coupled entities. In spark plasma sintering, the DC pulse current helps in controlling the nature and extent of surfaces of ball-milled Bi and hence results in six-fold improvement in the dimensionless figure of merit (ZT) relative to as-purchased samples.

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We find that the electrical and thermal connectivity in multiwalled carbon nanotube buckypaper can be tuned using a spark plasma sintering (SPS) technique. Elevated SPS temperatures promote the formation of inter-tube connections and consequently impact the electrical resistivity, thermoelectric power and thermal conductivity of the buckypaper. In particular, the electrical resistivity as a function of SPS temperature exhibits a percolation-type behavior while the low temperature lattice thermal conductivity shows a crossover behavior in the sample dimensionality. The results are discussed in terms of the quasi-one-dimensional metallic nature of multiwalled carbon nanotubes, the packing density and the electron-phonon coupling.