Lattice thermal conduction in cadmium arsenide

Abstract

Lattice thermal conductivity (LTC) of cadmium arsenide (Cd3As2) is studied, for the first time, over a wide temperature range (1–400 K) employing Callaway model. The acoustic phonons are considered to be the major carriers of heat and to be scattered by the sample boundaries, disorder, impurities, and the other phonons via both U- and N- processes. Numerical calculations of LTC of Cd3As2 bring out the relative importance of the scattering mechanisms. Our systematic analysis of recent experimental data on TC of Cd3As2 samples of different groups, presented in terms of LTC, κ L , using a non-linear regression method, is seen to obtain good fits to the TC data of the samples considered for T< ~50 K, and to suggest a value of 0.2 for the Gruneisen parameter. It is however, found that for T>100 K the inclusion of the electronic component, κ e , of TC, incorporating contributions from relevant electron scattering mechanisms, is needed to obtain good agreement with the TC data over the wide temperature range. More detailed investigations of TC of Cd3As2 are required to better understand its suitability in thermoelectric and thermal management devices.