Thermal Transport in 3D Nanostructures

TL;DR

This paper reviews recent experimental advances in understanding how three-dimensional nanostructures influence thermal transport, highlighting their potential for thermal management in electronics and energy applications.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive summary of experimental results and analysis of factors affecting thermal conductivity in various 3D nanostructures.

Findings

Different 3D nanostructures can be engineered for low or high thermal conductivity.

Factors influencing thermal transport are systematically compared and analyzed.

The work enhances understanding of nanoscale thermal management strategies.

Abstract

This work summarizes recent progress on the thermal transport properties of three-dimensional (3D) nanostructures, with an emphasis on experimental results. Depending on the applications, different 3D nanostructures can be prepared or designed to either achieve a low thermal conductivity for thermal insulation or thermoelectric devices, or a high thermal conductivity for thermal interface materials used in the continuing miniaturization of electronics. A broad range of 3D nanostructures have been discussed, ranging from colloidal crystals/assemblies, array structures, holey structures, hierarchical structures, 3D nanostructured fillers for metal matrix composites and polymer composites. Different factors that impact the thermal conductivity of these 3D structures are compared and analyzed. This work provides an overall understanding of the thermal transport properties of various 3D nanostructures, which will shed light on the thermal management at nanoscale.