Thermal rectifier from deformed carbon nanohorns

TL;DR

This study investigates how structural deformation and external strain influence thermal rectification in single-walled carbon nanohorns, revealing enhanced heat transport asymmetry and superior rectification efficiency compared to carbon nanotubes.

Contribution

It demonstrates that deformation and strain can significantly enhance thermal rectification in SWNHs, a novel approach for thermal management at the nanoscale.

Findings

Larger top angles lead to greater thermal rectification.

External strain further enhances rectification.

SWNHs outperform carbon nanotube junctions in rectification efficiency.

Abstract

We study thermal rectification in single-walled carbon nanohorns (SWNHs) by using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics (MD) method. It is found that the horns with the bigger top angles show larger asymmetric heat transport due to the larger structural gradient distribution. This kind of gradient behavior can be further adjusted by applying external strain on the SWNHs. After being carefully elongated along the axial direction, the thermal rectification in the elongated SWNHs can become more obvious than that in undeformed ones. The maximum rectification efficiency of SWNHs is much bigger than that of carbon nanotube intramolecular junctions.