Thermal transport in composites of self-assembled nickel nanoparticles embedded in yttria stabilized zirconia

We investigate the effect of nickel nanoparticle size on thermal transport in multilayer nanocomposites consisting of alternating layers of nickel nanoparticles and yttria stabilized zirconia (YSZ) spacer layers that are grown with pulsed laser deposition. Using time-domain thermoreflectance, we measure thermal conductivities of k=1.8, 2.4, 2.3, and 3.0 W m(-1) K-1 for nanocomposites with nickel nanoparticle diameters of 7, 21, 24, and 38 nm, respectively, and k=2.5 W m(-1) K-1 for a single 80 nm thick layer of YSZ. We use an effective medium theory to estimate the lower limits for interface thermal conductance G between the nickel nanoparticles and the YSZ matrix (G>170 MW m(-2) K-1), and nickel nanoparticle thermal conductivity.