Elaborate manipulation on CNT intertube heat transport by using a polymer knob

L Qiu and FC Li and N Zhu and YH Feng and XX Zhang and XH Zhang, INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF HEAT AND MASS TRANSFER, 184, 122280 (2022).

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijheatmasstransfer.2021.122280

The interface engineering between carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is a key to enhance the thermal conductivity of CNT assembled materials to match the trend of microelectronics miniaturization. In this study, according to the experimental finding of polymer-promoted CNT intertube heat transport, we reveal that there is a strong dependence of heat conductance on the orientation of polymer chain, corresponding to an effect of thermal switch knob . When the soft long-chain polyethylene molecular chains are placed in the grooves on both sides of two parallel CNTs at theta = 30 -60 degrees, flattening deformation will occur at the CNT contacts, and multi-point enhancement of vibrational density of states in 2.5-12 THz frequency range and a redshift of 3 THz for the frequencies are observed. These two phenomena point to a strong enhancement of the phonon coupling at the CNT contact, which is verified by 120% boost of the interfacial thermal conductance for the across-tube thermal transport. (c) 2021 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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