Lattice Heat Capacity of Mesoscopic Nanostructures

TL;DR

This paper introduces a comprehensive quantum mechanical model to accurately calculate the lattice heat capacity of mesoscopic nanostructures across different dimensions, including specific cases like fullerenes.

Contribution

It provides a novel, rigorous model applicable to arbitrary nanostructures with known vibrational spectra, extending to the bulk limit.

Findings

Model matches known results for infinite materials.

Calculates heat capacity for fullerenes.

Applicable to nanostructures in 0D, 1D, 2D, and 3D.

Abstract

We present a rigorous full quantum mechanical model for the lattice heat capacity of mesoscopic nanostructures in various dimensions. Model can be applied to arbitrary nanostructures with known vibrational spectrum in zero, one, two, or three dimensions. The limiting case of infinitely sized multi-dimensional materials are also found, which are in agreement with well-known results. As examples, we obtain the heat capacity of fullerenes.