Topics of Heat Transfer Related to Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes

Using an alcohol catalytic CVD method shown to produce high-quality single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), films of vertically aligned (VA-)SWNTs were synthesized on quartz substrates. The VA-SWNTs can be removed from the substrate and transferred onto an arbitrary surface—without disturbing the vertical alignment—using a hot-water assisted technique. This ability makes experimental measurements of the anisotropic properties of SWNTs considerably less challenging. A series of molecular dynamics simulations have been performed to investigate a variety of heat conduction characteristics of SWNTs. Investigations of stationary heat conduction identifies diffusive-ballistic heat conduction regime in a wide range of nanotube-lengths. Furthermore, studies on non-stationary heat conduction show that the extensive ballistic phonon transport gives rise to wave-like non-Fourier heat conduction. Finally, several case studies are presented for SWNT heat transfer in more practical situations.