Thermal transport of graphene nanoribbons embedding linear defects

Abstract

Using nonequilibrium Green's function method, the thermal transport properties of zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNR) embedding a finite (semi-infinite or infinite) long linear defect are investigated in this paper. The results show that defect type and defect length have significant influence on the thermal conductance of ZGNR. When the embedded linear defects have the same lengths, thermal conductance of ZGNR embedding t5t7 defect is lower than that of ZGNR embedding Stone-Wales defect. As for the ZGNR embedding finite and the same type defects, their thermal conductance reduce with the increase of the defect length. However, as the linear defect is long enough, the thermal conductance is insensitive to the change of length. By comparing the ZGNRs embedding finite, semi-infinite and infinite long defects, we find that the thermal conductance of ZGNR embedding an infinite long defect is higher than that of ZGNR embedding a semi-infinite defect, while the thermal conductance of the latter is higher than that of ZGNR embedding a finite long defect. This is due to the fact that different structures possess different numbers of scattering interfaces in the phonon transmission direction. The more the scattering interfaces, the lower the thermal conductance is. These thermal transport phenomena are explained by analyzing transmission coefficient and local density of states. These results indicate that linear defects can tune thermal transport property of ZGNR efficiently.