Thermal Rectification In Asymmetric Graphene Ribbons

In this paper, heat flux in graphene nano ribbons has been studied by using molecular dynamics simulations. It is found that the heat flux runs preferentially along the direction of decreasing width, which demonstrates significant thermal rectification effect in the asymmetric graphene ribbons. The dependence of rectification ratio on the vertex angle and the length are also discussed. Compared to the carbon nanotube based one-dimensional thermal rectifier, graphene nano ribbons have much higher rectification ratio even in large scale. Our results demonstrate that asymmetric graphene ribbon might be a promising structure for practical thermal (phononics) device

Carbon Nanocone: A Promising Thermal Rectifier

With molecular dynamics simulations, we demonstrate very obvious thermal rectification in large temperature range from 200 to 400 K in nanocone. We also observe that the rectification of nanocone does not depend on the length very sensitively, which is in stark contrast with the nanotube thermal rectifier in which the rectification decreases dramatically as the length increases. Our work demonstrates that carbon nanocone is a promising practical phononic device

How Does Folding Modulate Thermal Conductivity of Graphene

We study thermal transport in folded graphene nanoribbons using molecular dynamics simulations and the non-equilibrium Green's function method. It is found that the thermal conductivity of flat graphene nanoribbons can be modulated by folding and changing interlayer couplings. The analysis of transmission reveals that the reduction of thermal conductivity is due to scattering of low frequency phonons by the folds. Our results suggest that folding can be utilized in the modulation of thermal transport properties in graphene and other two dimensional materials.Comment: published in Applied Physics Letters 201

Thermal rectification and negative differential thermal resistance in lattices with mass gradient

We study thermal properties of one dimensional(1D) harmonic and anharmonic lattices with mass gradient. It is found that the temperature gradient can be built up in the 1D harmonic lattice with mass gradient due to the existence of gradons. The heat flow is asymmetric in the anharmonic lattices with mass gradient. Moreover, in a certain temperature region the {\it negative differential thermal resistance} is observed. Possible applications in constructing thermal rectifier and thermal transistor by using the graded material are discussed.Comment: 4 pages 5 eps figs. Accepted for pub. in Phys. Rev. B Rap. Com