Departmental Papers (MEAM)
Document Type
Journal Article
Date of this Version
October 2004
Abstract
Molecular dynamics simulations of thermal conduction in nanoporous thin films are performed. Thermal conductivity displays an inverse temperature dependence for films with small pores and a much less pronounced dependence for larger pores. Increasing porosity reduces thermal conductivity, while pore shape has little effect except in the most anisotropic cases. The pores separate the film into local regions with distinctly different temperature profiles and thermal conductivities, and the effective film thermal conductivity is lowest when the pores are positioned in the center of the film. Such tunability by pore placement highlights new possibilities for engineering nanoscale thermal transport.
Keywords
Molecular Dynamics, Nanopore, Thin Film, Local Thermal Conductivity, Tunable Properties
Date Posted: 21 January 2006
This document has been peer reviewed.
Comments
Postprint version. Published in Microscale Thermophysical Engineering, Volume 8, Issue 4, October/November/December 2004, pages 341-359.
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10893950490516893