Dimensional crossover of thermal transport in few-layer graphene

The ability to propagate heat in a film should improve with increasing thickness. However, graphene has a higher thermal conductivity than graphite, despite having a smaller thickness. The crossover from two-dimensional to bulk graphite is now studied experimentally and explained theoretically. The results may pave the way to thermal management applications in nanoelectronics. Graphene1, in addition to its unique electronic2,3 and optical properties4, reveals unusually high thermal conductivity5,6. The fact that the thermal conductivity of large enough graphene sheets should be higher than that of basal planes of bulk graphite was predicted theoretically by Klemens7. However, the exact mechanisms behind the…