Thermal transport in double-wall carbon nanotubes using heat pulse

Multi-wall carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) are outstanding materials for diverse applications such as electrodes, interconnects, or thermal management. Deep understanding of the underlying thermal transport mechanism in MWCNTs is crucial to engineer their thermal properties for a specific application. This paper investigates the interfacial thermal interaction in double-wall carbon nanotubes (DWCNTs) using molecular dynamics simulation and compares the transport in DWCNT with that in single-wall carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs). The present study is based on the application of intense heat pulse in the middle of the CNTs and analysis of wavelike responses of energy propagation as well as the kinetic energy corresponding to the velocity components in the radial, tangential, and longitudinal directions of CNTs. The analysis shows that the leading wave packets corresponding to the tangential and longitudinal components propagate ballistically along the tube, while the radial components show diffusive behavior with slow propagation speed. However, the radial components can efficiently transfer energy between tubes of DWCNTs while the fast moving longitudinal components and tangential components are weak in the interfacial energy transfer. An appropriate understanding of the energy exchange between different layers of tubes will pave the path of the future design of MWCNT based pellets and composites. (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics. [doi: 10.1063/1.3641970]