Bridging uniaxially-aligned carbon nanotubes with linear carbon chain for heat transfer enhancement

• Proposed a new strategy to extend the axial heat transfer of CNTs. • Investigated the thermal transport enhancement law of LCC between uniaxially-aligned CNTs. • Analyzed the low-frequency phonon and heat transfer path effects of LCC on CNTs. Enhancing the thermal transport between carbon nanotubes (CNTs), which determines the thermal conductivity of assembly structures, is crucial for the application of CNTs in thermal management. The strategy that employing the linear carbon chain (LCC) bridge the two uniaxially-aligned CNTs provides the possibility for improvement and controllability of interfacial heat transfer along the CNTs. In this work, we demonstrate that bridging CNTs through LCC is an effective strategy. The non-equilibrium molecular dynamics is used for the thermal simulation of CNTs with or without LCC for the interfacial thermal conductance ( G ) and the variation of G as a function of spacing. The weak axial interface coupling results in the interfacial thermal conductance of 0.15 W/m∙K when the spacing between CNTs is 2.4 Å. While after the LCC was used to bridge, the same G in CNT-LCC CNT reaches 28.2 Å theoretically. For short spacings, the low-frequency vibration of LCC optimizes the phonon redistribution of CNTs. For long spacings, the LCC mainly acts as a heat transfer path between the two CNTs. This work reveals the role of LCC bridged in CNT and explores the importance of axial heat transfer path extension in thermal transport. This strategy can also be used for molecular devices and controllable thermal management.