Thermal Conductivity Reduction in a Nanophononic Metamaterial versus a Nanophononic Crystal: A Review and Comparative Analysis

The notion of a locally resonant metamaterial—widely applied to light and sound—has recently been introduced to heat, whereby the thermal conductivity is reduced primarily by intrinsic localized atomic vibrations rather than scattering mechanisms. This article reviews and analyzes this new emerging concept, termed nanophononic metamaterial (NPM), and contrasts it with the competing concept of a nanophononic crystal (NPC) in which thermal conductivity reduction is realized primarily via nanoscale Bragg scattering. Both the NPM and NPC core mechanisms require the presence of a sufficient level of wave behavior, which is possible when there is a relatively wide distribution of the phonon mean free path (MFP). Silicon serves as a perfect material to form NPMs and NPCs given its relatively large average phonon MFP. This offers a unique opportunity considering silicon's abundance and mature fabrication technology. It is shown in this comparative study that while both the NPM and NPC nanosystems may be rendered to serve as extreme insulators of heat, an NPM may do so without excessive reduction in the minimum feature size–which is key to keeping the electrical properties intact. This trait makes a silicon‐based NPM poised to serve as a low‐cost thermoelectric material with exceptional performance. Nanophononic metamaterials and nanophononic crystals are nanostructured materials with unique features suitable for the reduction of the thermal conductivity and the increase of the thermoelectric energy conversion figure‐of‐merit. An in‐depth literature and technical review on these materials is presented with a focus on membrane‐based configurations. Attention is given to the underlying physics and performance, in contrast to a corresponding standard uniform membrane.