Lattice thermal conductivity of graphene nanoribbons

What is it about?

Heat in graphene is carried by lattice vibrations called phonons. Thermal conductivity in narrow graphene nanoribbons is limited by the scattering of phonons with the imperfections at the edges of the ribbon, which leads to two effects: one is that thermal conductivity scales in proportion to ribbon width W for W<1 um. The other is that zig-zag and armchair ribbons have different thermal conductivities and this anisotropy can be boosted by increasing roughness at the edges or decreasing width W.

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Why is it important?

Graphene nanoribbons have been proposed as basis for furture transistor devices, high frequency amplifiers, and sensors. All of these applications hinge on our ability to dissipate and remove heat from the active region of graphene nanoribbon devices. This work provides the tools to understand heat transport in graphene nanoribbons and ways to effectively control it.