Empirical potential study of phonon transport in graphitic ribbon

Abstract

The thermal properties of graphitic ribbon are investigated based on Brenner's empirical potential. The reliability and usefulness of the empirical potential to address the thermal properties of covalent-bonded carbon nanostructures are verified through a comparison of phonon dispersion relations and the density of states of carbon nanotubes with first-principles calculations. The analysis reveals unique edge-phonon states that are highly localized at edge carbon atoms of both armchair and zigzag ribbons. Applying the phonon dispersion relations to the Landauer formula of phonon transport, the quantization and universal features of the low-temperature thermal conductance of graphitic ribbon are elucidated, and it is found that the width of the quantization plateau in the low-temperature region is inversely proportional to the ribbon width.