Porous structures have strong tunable size effects due to increased surface area. Size effects on phonon thermal conductivity have been observed in porous materials with periodic voids on the order of microns. This letter explores the origin of this size effect on phonon thermal conductivity observed in periodic microporous membranes. Pore-edge boundary scattering of low frequency phonons explains the temperature trends in the thermal conductivity; further reduction in thermal conductivity is explained by the porosity.

Topics
Molecular dynamics, Thermal conductivity, Thermal transport, Crystallographic defects, Phonons, Planck constant, Dispersion function, Porous media, Microporous membrane, Nanomaterials
© 2009 American Institute of Physics.
2009
American Institute of Physics
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