Effect of substrate on thermal conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes

• Published in: Europhysics letters Vol. 88; no. 2; pp. 26004 - 26009
• Main Authors: Savin, A. V, Kivshar, Y. S, Hu, B
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: IOP Publishing 01.10.2009; EDP Sciences
• Subjects: 63.22.Gh; 65.80.+n
• ISSN: 0295-5075; 1286-4854
• DOI: 10.1209/0295-5075/88/26004

We analyze numerically the thermal conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes placed on a flat rigid substrate. We demonstrate that the character of thermal conductivity depends crucially on the interaction between the nanotube and the substrate. In particular, we reveal that unlike the well-established anomalous thermal conductivity of isolated carbon nanotubes, the nanotube placed on a substrate demonstrates normal thermal conductivity due to the appearance of a narrow gap in the frequency spectrum of acoustic phonons.