Spectral phonon scattering effects on the thermal conductivity of nano-grained barium titanate

We study the effect of grain size on thermal conductivity of thin film barium titanate over temperatures ranging from 200 to 500 K. We show that the thermal conductivity of Barium Titanate (BaTiO3) decreases with decreasing grain size as a result of increased phonon scattering from grain boundaries. We analyze our results with a model for thermal conductivity that incorporates a spectrum of mean free paths in BaTiO3. In contrast to the common gray mean free path assumption, our findings suggest that the thermal conductivity of complex oxide perovskites is driven by a spectrum of phonons with varying mean free paths. (C) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC.