Thermal conductivity modeling of circular-wire nanocomposites

A phonon Boltzmann equation solver using multiblock-structured grid system is developed and applied to study transverse thermal transport in silicon-germanium circular-wire nanocomposite (silicon nanowires embedded in germanium host matrix). Past studies usually assume geometric simplification for the circular-wire nanocomposite, so the heat transfer is actually modeled in a square-wire nanocomposite. To demonstrate geometry effect, phonon transport in both the circular-wire and square-wire nanocomposites are investigated with various wire spacings, volume fractions, and dimensions. In ballistic phonon transport, due to the smoothness of circular shape, the circular wire imposes less thermal resistance than the square-wire. Nevertheless, in the geometric simplification, the wire spacing of the square-wire nanocomposite is larger than that of the circular-wire nanocomposite. The usual geometric simplification can overestimate the thermal conductivity of the circular-wire nanocomposite. The obtained results can provide essential information for the development of bulk-nanostructured thermoelectric devices. (C) 2010 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3457230]