Science Daily March 31, 2018
Thermal conductivity of well-ordered crystal structure is low. Researchers in Germany produced nanoparticles which exhibit a thermal conductivity that is even much lower. These materials are mixtures in powder form: crystalline order is thus replaced with chaos. They found that the highest insulation effect is reached by mixing a very large number of small particles with fewer large particles and the difference in size between the two types of particles also plays a crucial role. The discovery will help to conceive improved device layouts with more reliable heat dissipation or conservation properties in the future… read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE 1, 2
Computer simulations of heat dissipation. The flow of heat is the least in the dark blue areas and is highest in the red areas. Credit: Illustrations: Markus Retsch