Molecular Dynamics Simulations of Diffusive-Ballistic Heat Conduction in Carbon Nanotubes

Abstract

AbstractHeat conduction of finite-length single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) has been studied by means of non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) simulations. The length-dependence of the thermal conductivity was quantified for a range of nanotube-lengths at room temperature. The length dependence of thermal conductivity exhibits a gradual transition from nearly pure ballistic heat conduction to diffusive-ballistic heat conduction. The results show that the thermal conductivity profile does not converge even beyond a micrometer nanotube-length. Furthermore, the diameter dependence suggests that the phonon diffusion is reduced with the diameter.