Extreme anharmonicity and thermal contraction of 1D wires

2025/08/11 by Chiara Cignarella, Cignarella, Chiara, Lorenzo Bastonero +5
Materials Science · #Thermal Expansion and Ionic Conductivity #Thermal properties of materials #Advanced Thermoelectric Materials and Devices

paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2508.07971

Abstract

Ultrathin nanowires could play a central role in next-generation downscaled electronics. Here, we explore some of the most promising candidates identified from previous high-throughput screening: CuC₂, TaSe₃, and AuSe₂, to gain insight into the thermodynamic and anharmonic behaviors of nanowires that could be exfoliated from weakly-bonded three-dimensional materials. We analyze thermal stability, linear thermal expansion, and anharmonic heat capacity using the stochastic self-consistent harmonic approximation. Notably, our work unveils exotic features common among all the 1D wires: a colossal record negative thermal expansion and very large deviations from the Dulong-Petit law due to strong anharmonicity.

Citations

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