Beating the Thermal Conductivity of Air Using Packed Nanoparticle Bed

Thermal conductivity of packed bed of nanoparticles is calculated in this paper. Results show that effective thermal conductivity of nanoparticle bed can be very low. Thermal conductivity of the nanoparticle bed can be smaller than the thermal conductivity of air. Thermal conductivity depends on pressure, surface energy of the nanoparticle, and phonon mean free path.