Thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes

Work by Ajing Cao and Jianmin Qu at Northwestern University using LAMMPS to model the thermal conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes. Specifically, they found that the size-dependent thermal conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes can be described by κ(L,d) ~ κ_g(L)(1 − e^{−0.185 d/a₀}), where L is the tube length, d is the diameter, a₀ = 2.46 Å is the graphene lattice constant, and κ_g(L), proportional to L^α, is the thermal conductivity of a graphene sheet of length L.

The plots on the cover show the spectral energy density (SED) of single-walled CNTs. The top three figures are for the (5,5) tube, and the bottom three are for the (40,40) tube; both tubes are 100 nm long at T = 300 K. The color indicates the magnitude of the SED at a given point (k,ω). From left to right are the longitudinal modes, twist modes, and radial breathing modes.