Enhanced anisotropic heat conduction in multi-walled carbon nanotubes

Abstract

Anisotropy of heat conduction in multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) is investigated by measuring heat flows in a pristine MWNT and in a MWNT with defects. The in- and out-of-shell thermal conductivities of each MWNT graphite shell are determined, and differences of more than four orders of magnitude are obtained because of the inter-shell gaps. This enhanced anisotropy reduces the conductance by 74% compared with that of the pristine MWNT because of the presence of outer shell defects, which comprise only 2.8% volume ratio. Furthermore, the anisotropy-assisted length dependence of thermal conductivity is demonstrated, even though there is no ballistic phonon transport.