Principal Role of Contact-Force Distribution in Determining the Thermal Conductivity of Supported Graphene

Y Lee and AJ Pak and E Paek and GS Hwang, PHYSICAL REVIEW APPLIED, 4, 014006 (2015).

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevApplied.4.014006

The thermal conductivity (kappa) of graphene dramatically decreases once supported on a substrate, hindering its use for thermal management. To clarify the underlying mechanisms, we investigate the. of graphene on amorphous SiO2 by using molecular dynamics with particular attention to the graphene-substrate topography. Our analysis reveals that the suppression in. increases with the nonuniformity of the forces acting on graphene, which tends to increase as the substrate-surface roughness and graphene conformity increase. Our findings highlight the importance of the interfacial morphology on. and can provide guidance on the design of substrates to improve thermal transport through graphene.

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