Improvement in thermal conductivity of paraffin by adding high aspect-ratio carbon-based nano-fillers

Molecular dynamics simulations have been utilized to study thermal conductivity of liquid and solid mixtures of paraffin and carbon-based high aspect-ratio nano-additives, i.e. carbon nanotubes and graphene. In agreement with existing experimental data, we observe high enhancement in thermal conductivity through adding these graphitic nano-additives into paraffin, particularly in the solid phase. We demonstrate that this significant improvement is mainly achieved by the enhancement in thermal conductivity of the matrix itself. This is caused by carbon nanotubes and graphene promoting ordering of the matrix molecules which consequently leads to improvement of its thermal conductivity. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.