Heat conduction in extended X-junctions of single-walled carbon nanotubes

XM Yang and DC Chen and YR Du and AC To, JOURNAL OF PHYSICS AND CHEMISTRY OF SOLIDS, 75, 123-129 (2014).

DOI: 10.1016/j.jpcs.2013.09.009

Non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) simulations are employed to investigate the longitudinal thermal conductivity of non-orthogonal extended X-junction (EX-junction) of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). Different from standard junctions of SWCNTs, two distinct jumps in the temperature profile around the EX-junction are observed, which are responsible for the larger temperature gradient and reduction in thermal conductivity when compared to standard X-junction. Quantum corrected results show that the longitudinal thermal resistance of the X-junction and EX-junction decreases monotonically with increasing temperature which makes the longitudinal thermal conductivity of the tube with junction less sensitive to temperature above 400 K comparing with the individual pristine tube. The origin of the significant decrease of thermal conductivity of EX-junction is discussed through phonon spectra analysis. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

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