Conventionally, graphene is a poor thermoelectric material with a low figure of merit (ZT) of 10–4–10–3. Although nanostructuring was proposed to improve the thermoelectric performance of graphene, little experimental progress has been accomplished. Here, we carefully fabricated as-grown suspended graphene nanoribbons with quarter-micron length and ∼40 nm width. The ratio of electrical to thermal conductivity was enhanced by 1–2 orders of magnitude, and the Seebeck coefficient was several times larger than bulk graphene, which yielded record-high ZT values up to ∼0.1. Moreover, we observed a record-high electronic contribution of ∼20% to the total thermal conductivity in the nanoribbon. Concurrent phonon Boltzmann transport simulations reveal that the reduction of lattice thermal conductivity is mainly attributed to quasi-ballistic phonon transport. The record-high ratio of electrical to thermal conductivity was enabled by the disparate electron and phonon mean free paths as well as the clean samples, and the enhanced Seebeck coefficient was attributed to the band gap opening. Our work not only demonstrates that electron and phonon transport can be fundamentally tuned and decoupled in graphene but also indicates that graphene with appropriate nanostructures can be very promising thermoelectric materials.

Frequency shift-distance curves reveal that each adsorbed gas layer is sandwiched between hydration layers with high water density.

Solar thermal energy conversion and storage within phase change materials (PCMs) can overcome solar radiation intermittency to enable continuous operation of many heating-related processes. However, the energy-harvesting performance of current storage systems is always limited by low efficiencies in either solar thermal energy conversion or thermal transport within PCMs. Although PCM-based nanocomposites can address one or both of these issues, achieving high-performance composites with simultaneously enhanced photothermal performance and thermal transport capacity remains challenging. Here, we demonstrate that dual-functional aligned and interconnected graphite nanoplatelet networks (AIGNNs) yield the synergistic enhancement of interfacial photothermal conversion and thermal transport within PCMs to accelerate the solar thermal energy harvesting and storage. The AIGNNs include the naked part as the three-dimensional optical absorber and the incorporated part as thermally conductive pathways within PCMs. First, a phase change composite composed of the AIGNNs and the solid–solid PCM of polyhydric alcohol is synthesized using a facile three-step method, and shows 400% thermal conductivity enhancement for per 1 wt % graphite loading compared to pristine PCMs. After the elaborate surface treatment, a small part of the graphite networks is in situ exposed as the 3D optical absorber to boost the surface full-spectrum sunlight absorptivity up to 95%. This dual function design takes full advantage of the integrated AIGNNs in terms of both photothermal conversion and thermal transport capacities, superior to the traditional coating-enhanced photothermal conversion. This work offers a promising route to accelerating solar thermal energy harvesting and storage within PCMs.

Thermophysical characterization of graphene is very important for both fundamental and technological research. While most of the existing thermal conductivity measurements are for graphene sheets with sizes larger than 1 μm, the thermal conductivities for suspended submicron graphene ribbons are still very few, although the thermal conductivity of graphene ribbons at the submicron scale is predicted to be much smaller than large graphene and strongly size dependent for both length and width due to the 2D nature of phonon transport. Here, we report the temperature dependent thermal conductivity of a 169-nm wide and 846-nm long graphene ribbon measured by the electrical self-heating method. The measured thermal conductivities range from (12.7 ± 2.95) W/m/K at 80 K to (932 ± 333) W/m/K at 380 K, being (349 ± 63) W/m/K at 300 K, following a ∼ T2.79 law for the full temperature range of 80 K to 380 K and a ∼ T1.23 law at low temperatures. The comparison of the measured thermal conductance with the ballistic transport limit indicates diffusive transport in this narrow and short ribbon due to phonon-edge as well as phonon-defect scattering. The data were also combined with an empirical model to predict possible width dependence of thermal conductivity for suspended graphene ribbons. These results help understand the 2D phonon transport in suspended submicron graphene ribbons and provide knowledge for controlling thermophysical properties of suspended graphene nanoribbons through size manipulation.