Experimental and Computational Investigation of Layer-Dependent Thermal Conductivities and Interfacial Thermal Conductance of One- to Three-Layer WSe 2

Two-dimensional materials such as graphene and transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDCs) have received extensive research interest and investigations in the past decade. In this research, we used a refined opto-thermal Raman technique to explore the thermal transport properties of one popular TMDC material WSe 2, in the single-layer (1L), bilayer (2L), and trilayer (3L) forms. This measurement technique is direct without additional processing to the material, and the absorption coefficient of WSe 2 is discovered during the measurement process to further increase this technique’s precision. By comparing the sample’s Raman spectroscopy spectra through two different laser spot sizes, we are able to obtain two parameters—lateral thermal conductivities of 1L–3L WSe 2 and the interfacial thermal conductance between 1L–3L WSe 2 and the substrate. We also implemented full-atom nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations (NEMD) to computationally investigate the thermal conductivities of 1L–3L WSe 2 to provide comprehensive evidence and confirm the experimental results. The trend of the layer-dependent lateral thermal conductivities and interfacial thermal conductance of 1L–3L WSe 2 is discovered. The room-temperature thermal conductivities for 1L–3L WSe 2 are 37 ± 12, 24 ± 12, and 20 ± 6 W/(m·K), respectively. The suspended 1L WSe 2 possesses a thermal conductivity of 49 ± 14 W/(m·K). Crucially, the interfacial thermal conductance values between 1L–3L WSe 2 and the substrate are found to be 2.95 ± 0.46, 3.45 ± 0.50, and 3.46 ± 0.45 MW/(m 2 ·K), respectively, with a flattened trend starting the 2L, a finding that provides the key information for thermal management and thermoelectric designs.