Defect scattering can lead to enhanced phonon transport at nanoscale

Abstract Defect scattering is well known to suppress thermal transport. In this study, however, we perform both molecular dynamics and Boltzmann transport equation calculations, to demonstrate that introducing defect scattering in nanoscale heating zone could surprisingly enhance thermal conductance of the system by up to 75%. We further reveal that the heating zone without defects yields directional nonequilibrium with overpopulated oblique-propagating phonons which suppress thermal transport, while introducing defects redirect phonons randomly to restore directional equilibrium, thereby enhancing thermal conductance. We demonstrate that defect scattering can enable such thermal transport enhancement in a wide range of temperatures, materials, and sizes, and offer an unconventional strategy for enhancing thermal transport via the manipulation of phonon directional nonequilibrium.