Thermal conductivity of metallic nanoparticle

Concerning metallic nanoparticles, a statistical simulation method to predict the electron mean free path of a nanoparticleis developed. And the phonon-contributed specific heat and phonon group velocity are also analyzed. Then, the kinetic theory is used to obtain the electron thermal conductivity and the lattice thermal conductivity of the nanoparticles. The size dependence of these properties is further discussed. It turns out that the electron mean free path of a square nanoparticle approximates to that of a circle nanoparticle if nanoparticles are of the same characteristic length. The electron thermal conductivity is much higher than the lattice thermal conductivity on the nanoscale. Either electron or lattice thermal conductivity of nanoparticles declines with diameter decreasing, while the size dependence of electron thermal conductivity is more obvious. However, if the diameter decreases to quite a small size, the electron thermal conductivity will become as low as the lattice thermal conductivity. In addition, the electron/lattice thermal conductivity of a nanoparticle will become less size-dependent if its characteristic length is 4 times larger than corresponding bulk electron/phonon mean free path.