Thermal Conductivity of Carbon Nanotubes Embedded in Solids

Abstract

A carbon-nanotube-atom fixed and activated scheme of non-equilibrium molecular dynamics simulations is put forward to extract the thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes (CNTs) embedded in solid argon. Though a 6.5% volume fraction of CNTs increases the composite thermal conductivity to about twice as much as that of the pure basal material, the thermal conductivity of CNTs embedded in solids is found to be decreased by 1/8-1/5 with reference to that of pure ones. The decrease of the intrinsic thermal conductivity of the solid-embedded CNTs and the thermal interface resistance are demonstrated to be responsible for the results.