Prof. ZHOU Yanguang’s Research on Energy Transport in Superionic Crystals Published in Physical Review Letters

A research paper titled “Energy Transport in Superionic Crystals”, authored by Assistant Professor ZHOU Yanguang from the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and his PhD student LIU Wenxiang, was recently published in Physical Review Letters, a premier journal in physical and multidisciplinary science and the flagship publication of American Physical Society.

In their study, the team proposes a rigorous concept based on the Onsager reciprocal theorem to describe the thermal transport behaviors in superionic crystals. The results show that thermal energy in superionic crystals can be transferred through the conduction of atomic vibrations, the enthalpy diffusion caused by ions’ diffusion and the thermodiffusion coupling. Their work unveils the thermal transport mechanisms in superionic crystals, which explains the long-standing and confusing thermal conductivity temperature dependence of superionic crystals.