Phonon Transport in Graphene

TL;DR

This paper reviews the unique phonon transport properties in graphene, highlighting theoretical approaches, experimental data, and effects of strain, defects, and isotopes on thermal conductivity in this two-dimensional material.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of theoretical models and experimental findings on phonon transport in graphene, emphasizing recent advances and factors influencing thermal conductivity.

Findings

Phonon transport in graphene differs significantly from bulk materials.

Strain, defects, and isotopes notably affect graphene's thermal conductivity.

Recent theoretical results align with experimental measurements of thermal properties.

Abstract

Properties of phonons - quanta of the crystal lattice vibrations - in graphene have attracted strong attention of the physics and engineering communities. Acoustic phonons are the main heat carriers in graphene near room temperature while optical phonons are used for counting the number of atomic planes in Raman experiments with few-layer graphene. It was shown both theoretically and experimentally that transport properties of phonons, i.e. energy dispersion and scattering rates, are substantially different in the quasi two-dimensional system such as graphene compared to basal planes in graphite or three-dimensional bulk crystals. The unique nature of two-dimensional phonon transport translates to unusual heat conduction in graphene and related materials. In this review we outline different theoretical approaches developed for phonon transport in graphene, discuss contributions of the in-plane and cross-plane phonon modes and provide comparison with available experimental thermal conductivity data. Particular attention is given to analysis of recent theoretical results for the phonon thermal conductivity of graphene and few-layer graphene, and the effects of the strain, defects and isotopes on the phonon transport in these systems.