Tuning the Thermal Transport of Hexagonal Boron Nitride/Reduced Graphene Oxide Heterostructures

Abstract

Tuning the thermal properties of materials is considered to be of crucial significance for improving the performance of electronic devices. Along these lines, the development of van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures becomes an effective solution to affect the thermal transport mechanisms. However, vdW interactions usually block phonon transport, which leads to a reduction in thermal conductivity. In this work, we experimentally demonstrate a large enhancement in the thermal conductivity of a vdW heterostructure composed of few-layer hexagonal boron nitride (h-BN) and reduced graphene oxide (RGO). By controlling the reduction temperature of RGO and changing the thickness of h-BN, the thermal conductivity of the RGO is increased by nearly 18 times, namely, from 91 to 1685 W m–1 K–1. Photothermal scanning imaging is used to reveal the changes in the heat transfer and temperature distribution of the h-BN/RGO heterostructure. Both photothermal scanning and Raman spectroscopy experiments show that the vdW interaction between h-BN and RGO can greatly increase the thermal conductivity of RGO, which is in contrast to the conventional understanding that vdW interaction reduces thermal conductivity. Our work paves the way for the manipulation of the thermal conductivity of two-dimensional (2D) heterostructures, which could be of great significance for future nanoelectronic circuits.

Molecular Dynamics Simulation on In-Plane Thermal Conductivity of Graphene/Hexagonal Boron Nitride van der Waals Heterostructures

“…In other words, the heat transport efficiency of the triple-layer heterostructure is higher than that of the the five-layer one, which can explain the reduction of TC when the layer number of h-BN is increased. This finding also agrees with that given by Chen et al 22 for the TC of h-BN/RGO heterostructures. Effect of Size.…”

“…However, the enhancement mechanism has not been explained by the phonon transmission principle, and the TC of the resultant GBN vdW heterostructures has not been discussed. Most recently, by using Raman spectroscopy and photothermal scanning imaging, Chen et al 22 measured the TC of a vdW heterostructure composed of few-layer h-BN sheets and reduced graphene oxide (RGO). The TC of the RGO in the h-BN/RGO heterostructure can be increased by a factor of almost 18 times by controlling the reduction temperature of RGO (i.e., reducing defects) and the thickness of the h-BN sheets.…”

Synergistic effects of boron nitride sheets and reduced graphene oxide on reinforcing the thermal conduction, SERS performance and thermal property of polyimide composite films

“…The absorption bands at 3500–3200 cm −1 are probably attributed to the valence vibration of the OH group. When GO was reduced by hydrazine hydrate, the absorption peak of ether bond and carbonyl are weakened, and it is speculated that the containing oxygen group of GO such as COC or CO may be transfer into COH, which will increase the intensity of OH 56 . It is interesting that when composing hBN and rGO into mixed fillers, the mixed absorption peaks with BN bond and COC bond blue shift to 1382 cm −1 .…”

“…When GO was reduced by hydrazine hydrate, the absorption peak of ether bond and carbonyl are weakened, and it is speculated that the containing oxygen group of GO such as C O C or C O may be transfer into C OH, which will increase the intensity of OH. 56 It is interesting that when composing hBN and rGO into mixed fillers, the mixed absorption peaks with B N bond and C O C bond blue shift to 1382 cm À1 . It is believed that it is the strong π-π interactions between hBN and rGO leading to the shift of absorption peaks.…”