The underestimated thermal conductivity of graphene in thermal-bridge measurement: A computational study

The effect of substrate coupling on thermal conductivity of graphene is studied by using molecular dynamic simulations. It was found that heat flux along real suspended single-layer graphene is only 40% with respect to that in the ideal suspended single-layer graphene, due to remarkable temperature jump and thermal contact resistance at the contact region. With the strength of inter-layer (or graphene-substrate) interaction increases, the temperature jump increases and leads to further reduction in heat flux and the estimated thermal conductivity. Our results give a reasonable explanation to the underestimated thermal conductivity of graphene in thermal-bridge measurement. (C) 2013 AIP Publishing LLC.