Enhancing mechanism of CNT-CNT interface by metal nanoparticle and nanowire effect on the inside and outside of CNT

Enhancing the weak interfacial heat transfer between carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is an effective approach to its application in thermal management for electronic devices, MEMS, etc. The conventional methods of strengthening thermal conductance (G) between CNTs have not reached expectations, and thus it is necessary to develop a new enhancement way. This work systematically studies potential enhancement ways by molecular dynamics simulation. It is found that the direct loading of nano particles (NPs) between CNTs, the indirect loading of nanowires (NWs) into CNTs, and the synergistic loading of both clusters and NWs can have some positive effects. The loaded cluster and NW involves six metals (Cu, Ag, Au, Pt, Ni and Rh). The results show that the cluster with large amount low frequency phonon (LFP) induces LFP resonance of interfacial carbon atoms in CNTs, resulting in the remarkable enhancement of G. After loading NW into CNT, NW and NP synergistically produce resonance effect on the phonons of interfacial carbon atoms in CNT, and the G can be further improved by 29% after NW loading.