Energy dissipation in van der Waals 2D devices

Understanding the physics underlying energy dissipation is necessary for the effective thermal management of devices based on two-dimensional (2D) materials and requires insights into the interplay between heat generation and diffusion in such materials. We review the microscopic mechanisms that govern Joule heating and energy dissipation processes in 2D materials such as graphene, black phosphorus and semiconducting transition metal dichalcogenides. We discuss the processes through which non-equilibrium charge carriers, created either transiently through photoexcitation or at steady state by a large electric field, undergo energy relaxation with the lattice and the substrate. We also discuss how these energy dissipation processes are affected by the device configuration (heterostructure, substrate material including hexagonal boron nitride, etc) as the use of different substrates, encapsulation, disorder, etc can introduce or remove scattering processes that change the energy relaxation pathways. Finally, we discuss how the unique carrier scattering dynamics in graphene-based vdW heterostructures can be exploited for optoelectronic applications in light emission and photodetection.