Scientists at the NOMAD Laboratory at the Fritz Haber Institute of the Max Planck Society have shed light on the microscopic mechanisms that determine thermal conduction in heat insulators. Through their computational research, they have demonstrated that even short-lived and microscopically localized defect structures have a substantial impact on macroscopic transport processes. This discovery could contribute to more energy-efficient technologies by allowing for the tailoring of The NOMAD Laboratory researchers have recently elucidated fundamental microscopic mechanisms that offer to tailor materials for heat insulation. This development advances the ongoing efforts to enhance energy efficiency and sustainability.
The role of heat transport is crucial in various scientific and industrial applications, such as catalysis, turbine technologies, and thermoelectric heat converters that convert waste heat into electricity. Particularly in the context of energy conservation and the development of sustainable technologies, materials with high thermal insulation capabilities are of utmost importance. These materials allow us to retain and utilize heat that would otherwise go to waste. Therefore, improving the design of highly insulating materials is a key research objective in enabling more energy-efficient applications.
However, designing strong heat insulators is far from trivial, despite the fact that the underlying fundamental physical laws are known for nearly a century. At a microscopic level, heat transport in
In a recent joint publication in Physical Review B (Editors Suggestions) and
“Anharmonicity in Thermal Insulators: An Analysis from First Principles” by Florian Knoop, Thomas A. R. Purcell, Matthias Scheffler and Christian Carbogno, 7 June 2023, Physical Review Letters.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.130.236301
“Ab initio Green-Kubo simulations of heat transport in solids: Method and implementation” by Florian Knoop, Matthias Scheffler and Christian Carbogno, 7 June 2023, Physical Review B.
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.107.224304