Suppression of thermal conductivity in graphene nanoribbons with rough edges

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that edge disorder in graphene nanoribbons significantly reduces thermal conductivity through Anderson localization, especially in longer ribbons and at low temperatures.

Contribution

It provides a numerical analysis showing how rough edges suppress thermal transport via localization effects, a novel insight into phonon management in nanostructures.

Findings

Edge disorder causes several orders of magnitude reduction in thermal conductivity.

Suppression effect increases with nanoribbon length and decreases temperature.

Edge-induced Anderson localization is the key mechanism behind thermal conductivity reduction.

Abstract

We analyze numerically the thermal conductivity of carbon nanoribbons with ideal and rough edges. We demonstrate that edge disorder can lead to a suppression of thermal conductivity by several orders of magnitude. This effect is associated with the edge-induced Anderson localization and suppression of the phonon transport, and it becomes more pronounced for longer nanoribbons and low temperatures.