Unusually high thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes

Combining equilibrium and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations with accurate carbon potentials, we determine the thermal conductivity lambda of carbon nanotubes and its dependence on temperature. Our results suggest an unusually high value, lambda approximately 6600 W/m K, for an isolated (...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Physical review letters 2000-05, Vol.84 (20), p.4613-4616
Main Authors: Berber, S, Kwon, YK, Tomanek, D
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Combining equilibrium and nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations with accurate carbon potentials, we determine the thermal conductivity lambda of carbon nanotubes and its dependence on temperature. Our results suggest an unusually high value, lambda approximately 6600 W/m K, for an isolated (10,10) nanotube at room temperature, comparable to the thermal conductivity of a hypothetical isolated graphene monolayer or diamond. Our results suggest that these high values of lambda are associated with the large phonon mean free paths in these systems; substantially lower values are predicted and observed for the basal plane of bulk graphite.
ISSN:0031-9007
1079-7114
DOI:10.1103/physrevlett.84.4613