Anisotropic thermal transport in twisted bilayer graphene

Recently, twisted bilayer graphene (TBLG) has attracted enormous attention owing to its peculiar electronic properties. In this work, the anisotropic thermal conductivity of TBLG is comprehensively investigated. It is reported that interlayer twisting can be a practical approach for thermal transport regulation with high accuracy. A strong non-monotonic correlation between anisotropic thermal conductivity and twisting angles is revealed. Extensive phonon behavior analyses reveal the physical mechanism. The anisotropic thermal transport in TBLG is explained by the calculated phonon density of states (PDOS). Meanwhile, the phonon spectra and phonon relaxation times extracted from spectral energy density (SED) profiles explain the decreasing trend of thermal conductivity with increasing twisting angles. The increase in thermal conductivity is attributed to the combined effects of twist and anisotropy. The reported anisotropic thermal conductivity is important to the thermal modulation and our analyses provide a valuable complement to the phonon studies of TBLG.

Automated summary

This study comprehensively investigates the anisotropic thermal conductivity of twisted bilayer graphene (TBLG), revealing a strong non-monotonic correlation between thermal conductivity and twisting angles. The physical mechanism behind the decreasing thermal conductivity with increasing twisting angles is explained. The reported anisotropic thermal conductivity is important for thermal modulation and provides a valuable complement to phonon studies of TBLG.