Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 February 2011
We have fabricated Bi microwire array composites ranging in diameter from 10 to 50 micrometer using the method of high-pressure-injection (HPI) of the Bi melt into microchannel arrays (MCA) templates. The composites are dense, with Bi volume fraction in excess of 70 %. The parallel Bi nanowires, whose length appears to be limited only by the thickness of the host template (up to 2 mm), terminate at both sides of the composite in the Bi bulk. The individual Bi microwire crystal structure is rhombohedral, with the same lattice parameters as that of bulk Bi; the wires crystalline orientation is predominantly perpendicular to the (113) lattice plane. The transversal magnetoresistance and Seebeck effect of the wires has been measured in magnetic fields up to 0.8 Tesla and for temperatures ranging between 77 K and room temperature.