Duality of the Interfacial Thermal Conductance in Graphene-based Nanocomposites

Journal Article · Wed Jan 01 00:00:00 EST 2014 · Carbon

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2014.03.050· OSTI ID:1128978

Liu, Ying ^[1]; Huang, Jingsong ^[2]; Yang, Bao ^[3]; Sumpter, Bobby G ^[2]; Qiao, Rui ^[1]

---

1. Clemson University
2. ORNL
3. University of Maryland

The thermal conductance of graphene-matrix interfaces plays a key role in controlling the thermal transport properties of graphene-based nanocomposites. Using classical molecular dynamics simulations, we found that the interfacial thermal conductance depends strongly on the mode of heat transfer at the graphene-matrix interfaces: if heat enters graphene from one side of its basal plane and immediately leaves the graphene through the other side, the corresponding interfacial thermal conductance, G(across), is large; if heat enters graphene from both sides of its basal plane and leaves the graphene at a position far away on its basal plane, the corresponding interfacial thermal conductance, G(non-across), is small. For a single-layer graphene immersed in liquid octane, G(across) is ~150 MW/m2K while Gnon-across is ~5 MW/m2K. G(across) decreases with increasing multi-layer graphene thickness (i.e., number of layers in graphene) and approaches an asymptotic value of 100 MW/m2K for 7-layer graphenes. G(non-across) increases only marginally as the graphene sheet thickness increases. Such a duality of the interface thermal conductance for different probing methods and its dependence on graphene sheet thickness can be traced ultimately to the unique physical and chemical structure of graphene materials. The ramifications of these results in areas such as experimental measurement of thermal conductivity of graphene and the design of graphene-based thermal nanocomposites are discussed.

• Research Organization: Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Center for Nanophase Materials Sciences (CNMS); Oak Ridge National Lab. (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States). Oak Ridge Leadership Computing Facility (OLCF)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Science (SC)
• DOE Contract Number: DE-AC05-00OR22725
• OSTI ID: 1128978
• Journal Information: Carbon, Vol. 75; ISSN 0008-6223
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English