Effect of topological line defects on electron-derived thermal transport in zigzag graphene nanoribbons

We investigate electron-derived thermal transport in zigzag graphene nanoribbons (ZGNRs) with topological line defects (TLDs) including tetragon-TLD (4-TLD), octagon-TLD (8-TLD), double pentagons and octagon-TLD (558-TLD), as well as double pentagons and double heptagons-TLD (5757-TLD). Results show that these TLDs can efficiently modify the band structure and electron-derived thermal conductance. Near the intrinsic Fermi level, the normalized thermal conductance for both 4-TLD and 8-TLD (both 558-TLD and 5757-TLD) is the same as (higher than) that of pristine ZGNRs. When the Fermi level is far above the top of the first subband, the normalized thermal conductance for four TLDs is much lower than the pristine value. We also show that the TLDs' position dependence of the normalized thermal conductance exhibits the similar trend for different types of TLDs, but this trend strongly depends on the Fermi level. A brief analysis of these results is given. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.