Thermal Transfer in Graphene-Interfaced Materials: Contact Resistance and Interface Engineering

HX Wang and JX Gong and YM Pei and ZP Xu, ACS APPLIED MATERIALS & INTERFACES, 5, 2599-2603 (2013).

DOI: 10.1021/am3032772

We investigate here heat transfer across interfaces consisting of single- and few-layer graphene sheets between silicon carbides by performing nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. The interfacial thermal conducitivity kappa(1) is calculated by considering graphene layers as an interfacial phase. The results indicate that kappa(1) decreases with its thickness and heat flux but increases with the environmental temperature. Interface engineering of kappa(1) is explored by intercalating molecules between graphene layers. These guest molecules decouple electronic states across the interface, but tune,kappa(1) slightly, leading to a thermally transparent but electronically insulating interface. These results provide a fundamental understanding in thermal transport across weakly bound interfaces, and design recipes for multifunctional thermal interface materials, composites and thermal management in graphene-based devices.

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