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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Nanotechnol.
Sec. Nanomaterials
Volume 6 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnano.2024.1500211
This article is part of the Research Topic Nanomaterials in Extreme Environments: Latest Advancements and Applications View all articles

Dynamic in situ Control of Heat Rectification in Graphene nano-ribbons using Voltage-controlled Strain

Provisionally accepted
Daryoush Shiri Daryoush Shiri 1*Andreas Isacsson Andreas Isacsson 2
  • 1 Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden
  • 2 Department of Physics, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, Sweden

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    An increasing number of papers propose routes to implement thermal counterparts of electronic rectification. These schemes are mainly based on combinations of crystal anharmonicity and broken mirror symmetry. With respect to graphene, proposals pivot around shape asymmetry induced by using hetero-structures of nano-patterned or defected sections of pristine graphene.Using Molecular Dynamics (MD) we show that it suffices to split a graphene nano-ribbon into two unequal strained sections using external force which leads to large asymmetry in the forward and reverse heat fluxes. We find that the corresponding rectification ratio is enhanced by up to 60 %. Also, and more importantly, the polarity is controllable on-the-fly i.e., by changing the position where force is applied. Based upon our results we propose a thermo-electric device which obviates the complex nano-patterning and lithography required to pattern graphene every time a new rectification value or sign is sought for, opening a route to simpler fabrication and characterization of phononic phenomena in 2D materials.

    Keywords: Heat rectification, Thermal diode, Phononics, molecular dynamics, Graphene, Lammps, Strain

    Received: 22 Sep 2024; Accepted: 02 Dec 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Shiri and Isacsson. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Daryoush Shiri, Department of Microtechnology and Nanoscience, Chalmers University of Technology, Gothenburg, 412 96, Sweden

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