Van der Waals interaction-tuned heat transfer in nanostructures

Abstract

Interfaces usually impede heat transfer in heterogeneous structures. Recent experiments show that van der Waals (vdW) interactions can significantly enhance thermal conductivity parallel to the interface of a bundle of nanoribbons compared to a single layer of freestanding nanoribbon. In this paper, by simulating heat transfer in nanostructures based on a model of nonlinear one-dimensional lattices interacting via van der Waals interactions, we show that the vdW interface interaction can adjust the thermal conductivity parallel to the interface. The efficiency of the adjustment depends on the intensity of interactions and temperature. The nonlinear dependence of the conductivity on the intensity of interactions agrees well with experimental results for carbon nanotube bundles, multi-walled carbon nanotubes, multi-layer graphene, and nanoribbons.