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    Compression-induced anomalous thermal transport in the giant negative thermal expansion material NaB(CN)4

    Yijing Zuo1,2, Wei Cao2,3,*, Yuxuan Zeng3, Zhaofu Zhang3, Fang Lyu2, Yue Hou3, Ling Miao4, and Ziyu Wang1,2,3,†

    • *Contact author: wei_cao@whu.edu.cn
    • †Contact author: zywang@whu.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. B 114, 154307 – Published 16 September, 2026

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/9yn4-8wn9

    Abstract

    NaB(CN)4 exhibits giant negative thermal expansion (NTE) that is closely associated with low-frequency phonons with large negative Grüneisen parameters. Although compression-induced softening of negative-Grüneisen phonons can modify lattice thermal conductivity (κL), how NTE-active phonon modes differently influence the population (κpop) and coherence (κcoh) contributions to κL remains unclear. Here, we combine perturbative high-order anharmonic lattice dynamics and homogeneous nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (HNEMD) simulations accelerated by a neuroevolution potential (NEP) to investigate compression-dependent thermal transport in NaB(CN)4. Both approaches capture a compression-induced decrease in κL. At 300 K, NEP–HNEMD simulations show that κL decreases from 1.05±0.03 to 0.49±0.01Wm−1K−1 over the structurally intact strain range examined up to 4%. In the weak-compression regime, the reduction is dominated by the suppression of κpop. NTE-active framework modes near 2.5 THz soften under compression, reducing phonon group velocities and increasing the three-phonon scattering phase space. By contrast, the compression-induced difference in κcoh is mainly concentrated near 7.5 THz, where the relevant phonon pairs harden. Nevertheless, κcoh increases only slightly and remains secondary to κpop. These contrasting responses reveal a nonuniform phonon-spectrum reconstruction under compression in which strain selectively reshapes the population and coherence channels of heat transport, linking NTE-active phonons to anomalous thermal transport in NaB(CN)4.

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