Electron-Phonon interaction and lattice thermal conductivity from metals to 2D Dirac crystals: a review

TL;DR

This review discusses recent advances in first-principles predictions of electron-phonon interactions and their impact on thermal conductivity across various materials, emphasizing the importance of symmetry, doping, and higher-order processes.

Contribution

It synthesizes current understanding of electron-phonon coupling effects on thermal transport, highlighting new theoretical developments and open challenges in predictive modeling.

Findings

Phonons can carry up to 40% of heat in metals despite secondary role.

Mirror symmetry and doping significantly influence scattering mechanisms in 2D Dirac materials.

Higher-order processes become important at low Fermi energies and high temperatures.

Abstract

Electron--phonon (e--ph) coupling governs electrical resistivity, hot-carrier cooling, and critically, thermal transport in solids. Recent first-principles advances now predict e--ph limited thermal conductivity from d-band metals and wide-band-gap semiconductors to 2D Dirac crystals without empirical parameters. In bulk metals, ab-initio lifetimes show that phonons, though secondary, still carry up to 40\% of the heat once e--ph scattering is included. We next survey coupled Boltzmann frameworks, exemplified by \textsc{elphbolt}, that capture mutual drag and ultrafast non-equilibrium in semiconductors. For 2D Dirac crystals, mirror symmetry, carrier density, strain, and finite size rearrange the scattering hierarchy: ZA modes dominate pristine graphene yet become the main resistive branch in nanoribbons once symmetry is broken. At low Fermi energies and high temperatures, the standard 3-particle decay is partially cancelled, elevating 4-particle processes and necessitating dynamically screened, higher-order theory. Throughout, we identify the microscopic levers such as the electronic density of states, phonon frequency, deformation potential, and show how doping, strain, or dielectric environment can tune e--ph damping. We conclude by outlining open challenges such as: developing coupled e--ph solvers, solving the full mode-to-mode Peierls--Boltzmann equation with 4-particle terms, embedding correlated electron methods in e--ph workflows, and leveraging higher-order e--ph coupling and symmetry breaking to realise phononic thermal diodes and rectifiers. Solving these challenges will elevate e--ph theory from a diagnostic tool to a predictive, parameter-free platform that links symmetry, screening, and many-body effects to heat and charge transport in next-generation electronic, photonic, and thermoelectric devices.