Tuning thermal transport via phonon localization in nanostructures*

Abstract

Localization, one of the basic phenomena for wave transport, has been demonstrated to be an effective strategy to manipulate electronic, photonic, and acoustic properties of materials. Due to the wave nature of phonons, the tuning of thermal properties through phonon localization would also be expected, which is beneficial to many applications such as thermoelectrics, electronics, and phononics. With the development of nanotechnology, nanostructures with characteristic length about ten nanometers can give rise to phonon localization, which has attracted considerable attention in recent years. This review aims to summarize recent advances with theoretical, simulative, and experimental studies toward understanding, prediction, and utilization of phonon localization in disordered nanostructures, focuses on the effect of phonon localization on thermal conductivity. Based on previous researches, perspectives regarding further researches to clarify this hectic-investigated and immature topic and its exact effect on thermal transport are given.