Abstract
Nature Nanotechnology 2012, 7, 91-95
Enhanced and switchable nanoscale thermal conduction due to van der Waals interfaces
Yang JK, Yang Y, Waltermire SW, Wu XX, Zhang HT, Gutu T, Jiang YF, Chen YF, Zinn AA, Prasher R, Xu TT, Li DY
Understanding thermal transport in nanostructured materials is important for the development of energy conversion applications,,,聽and the thermal management of microelectronic and optoelectronic devices. Most nanostructures interact through van der Waals interactions, and these interactions typically lead to a reduction in thermal transport,,,. Here, we show that the thermal conductivity of a bundle of boron nanoribbons can be significantly higher than that of a single free-standing nanoribbon. Moreover, the thermal conductivity of the bundle can be switched between the enhanced values and that of a single nanoribbon by wetting the van der Waals interface between the nanoribbons with various solutions.