Mesoscopic thermal and thermoelectric measurements of individual carbon nanotubes

Abstract

We discuss the mesoscopic experimental measurements of electron energy dissipation, phonon thermal transport, and thermoelectric phenomena in individual carbon nanotubes. The temperature distributions in electrically heated individual multiwalled carbon nanotubes have been measured with a scanning thermal microscope. The temperature profiles along the tube axis in nanotubes indicate the bulk dissipation of electronic energy to phonons. In addition, thermal conductivity of an individual multiwalled nanotube has been measured using a microfabricated suspended device. The observed thermal conductivity is two orders of magnitude higher than the estimation from previous experiments that used macroscopic mat samples. Finally, we present thermoelectric power (TEP) of individual single walled carbon nanotubes using a novel mesoscopic device. A strong modulation of TEP as a function of the gate electrode was observed.