Thermal transport in folded zigzag and armchair graphene nanoribbons

Abstract

Thermal conductivities of graphene nanoribbons (GNRs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are systematically investigated by employing nonequilibrium molecular dynamics. It is found that with the same size, the thermal conductivity of armchair GNR (AGNR) is smaller than that of zigzag CNT, while thermal conductivity of zigzag GNR (ZGNR) is larger than that of armchair CNT. The phonon participation ratios and local vibrational densities of states of GNRs (CNTs) demonstrate that the edges of the ZGNR are beneficial to the heat transport, while the edges of the AGNR are completely opposite. All these results are very helpful for us to understand the thermal transport mechanism in carbon-based nanostructures.