Electronic Thermal Conductivity Measurements in Intrinsic Graphene

TL;DR

This paper measures the electronic thermal conductivity of suspended intrinsic graphene across 20 to 300 K using a novel two-point DC transport method, revealing heat conduction by quasiparticles with properties similar to charge carriers.

Contribution

It introduces a new method to extract electronic thermal conductivity in graphene and provides empirical data over a wide temperature range for intrinsic samples.

Findings

$K_e$ ranges from 0.5 to 11 W/m.K

Heat is carried by quasiparticles with mean free-path and velocity similar to charge carriers

Data supports a quasiparticle heat conduction model in graphene

Abstract

The electronic thermal conductivity of graphene and 2D Dirac materials is of fundamental interest and can play an important role in the performance of nano-scale devices. We report the electronic thermal conductivity, $K_{e}$, in suspended graphene in the nearly intrinsic regime over a temperature range of 20 to 300 K. We present a method to extract $K_{e}$ using two-point DC electron transport at low bias voltages, where the electron and lattice temperatures are decoupled. We find $K_e$ ranging from 0.5 to 11 W/m.K over the studied temperature range. The data are consistent with a model in which heat is carried by quasiparticles with the same mean free-path and velocity as graphene's charge carriers.