Thermal conductivity in one-dimensional nonlinear disordered lattices: two kinds of scattering effects of hard-type and soft-type anharmonicities

Amorphous solids can be theoretically modeled by anharmonic disordered lattices, but most of the theoretical studies on thermal conductivity in such lattices only consider hard-type (HT) anharmonicity. In this study, we investigate the thermal conductivity κ of one-dimensional disordered lattices with both HT and soft-type (ST) anharmonic on-site potentials. Our results from molecular dynamics simulations and the quasi-harmonic Green–Kubo (QHGK) method show that while the HT model exhibits non-monotonic dependence of κ on anharmonicity, the ST model shows a monotonically increasing trend. This trend provides a novel approach to enhancing thermal conductivity in disordered systems. Additionally, the QHGK predictions for κ in the HT model are consistent with simulation results over a wide range of anharmonicity values; however, for the ST model, deviations appear as the anharmonicity becomes softer. This peculiar feature may be attributed to delocalization effects being dominant in contrast to the competing roles played by both delocalization and localization effects observed in the HT model.