Tuning the thermal conductivity of multi-layer graphene with interlayer bonding and tensile strain

We investigate the thermal conductivity of interlayer-bonded bilayer graphene, trilayer graphene, and pyrolytic graphite using molecular dynamics simulations. We find that interlayer sp³ bonding greatly reduces the thermal conductivity, with the reduction up to 80 %, depending on the distribution and coverage of sp³ bonds. Besides, we find that tensile strain reduces the thermal conductivity of interlayer-bonded graphene further by up to 50 %. Our findings suggest the possibility of using interlayer sp³ bonds and tensile strain to tune and manipulate the thermal conductivity of multi-layer graphene, which may be useful in thermal management of graphene-based nanodevices and in thermoelectric applications of graphene.