Electronic thermal conductivity of few-layer black phosphorus

Abstract

The theoretical investigations of anisotropic electronic thermal conductivity of nanoscale black phosphorus along zigzag and armchair directions are presented. Electrons in black phosphorus assumed to be scattered by in-plane linear dispersion phonons and out-of-plane quadratic dispersion phonons via deformation potential couplings. The individual contributions from in-plane phonon and out-of-plane phonon processes to the electronic thermal conductivity show dominant role of in-plane phonon processes. The anisotropic behaviour of electronic thermal conductivity is noticed and found to be sensitive to the carrier density and temperature. Role and relative importance of anisotropic electronic thermal conductivity in the analysis of experimental thermal conductivity data of nanoscale black phosphorus samples is investigated.