Thermal Transport in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes Under Pure Bending

Keeping mesoscopic electronics cool is a significant challenge, for which carbon nanotubes (CNTs) are useful, in principle. However, so far there has been a discrepancy between experimental results and theoretical predictions of how CNTs transfer heat under bending deformation--an important issue in powering mobile devices with body heat, or cooling flexible electronics. Using objective molecular dynamics, the authors provide a comprehensive study of length- and curvature-dependent transport of phonons in bent CNTs, reconciling experiment and theory, with important implications for nanoscale thermal management and phononic devices.