The book is devoted to nanostructures and nanostructured materials containing both amorphous and crystalline phases with a particular focus on their thermal properties. It is the first time that theoreticians and experimentalists from different domains gathered to treat this subject. It contains two distinct parts; the first combines theory and simulations methods with specific examples, while the second part discusses methods to fabricate nanomaterials with crystalline and amorphous phases and experimental techniques to measure the thermal conductivity of such materials.
Physical insights are given in the first part of the book, related with the existing theoretical models and the state of art simulations methods (molecular dynamics, ab-initio simulations, kinetic theory of gases). In the second part, engineering advances in the nanofabrication of crystalline/amorphous heterostructures (heavy ion irradiation, electrochemical etching, aging/recrystallization, ball milling, PVD, laser crystallization and magnetron sputtering) and adequate experimental measurement methods are analyzed (Scanning Thermal Microscopy, Raman, thermal wave methods and x-rays neutrons spectroscopy).
About the Author: Konstantinos Termentzidis is a CNRS researcher and he works at the LEMTA laboratory, at the University of Lorraine, France since 2012. He started his studies at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Physics Departement and Master Material's Physics and Technology), and he obtained his PhD at the University of Vienna, at the Computational Material Science group. He worked as a postdoc fellow at INSA of Lyon and at the Ecole Centrale Paris.
His main scientific interest is the theoretical and computational nanoscale heat transport. During, the last 8 years he is studying the phonon transport at nanowires, nanotubes and superlattices with molecular dynamics, with an important publication production in the domain. The nanoscale heat transfer is a crucial issue for a large scope of contexts and applications as biology, medicine, aerospace, communications, electronics and energy. The behavior, reliability, life and cost of these devices depend on the way the system releases heat. As experimental studies are not always available or suitable at this scale, dedicated models and simulations tools are necessary.
Termentzidis with his work elucidated the interaction of phonons with interfaces, defects and surfaces at the nanoscale, a key point to design materials with tailored properties and systems with controlled behavior.
