Nanoscale Heat Transport of Vertically Aligned Carbon Nanotube Bundles for Thermal Management Applications.

Electronic devices continue to shrink in size while increasing in performance, making excess heat dissipation challenging. Traditional thermal interface materials (TIMs) such as thermal grease and pads face limitations in thermal conductivity and stability, particularly as devices scale down. Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have emerged as promising candidates for TIMs because of their exceptional thermal conductivity and mechanical properties.

Deciphering the structural and kinetic factors in lithium titanate for enhanced performance in Li/Na dual-cation electrolyte.

The widespread application of LiTiO (LTO) anode in lithium-ion batteries has been hindered by its relatively low energy density. In this study, we investigated the capacity enhancement mechanism of LTO anode through the incorporation of Na cations in an Li-based electrolyte (dual-cation electrolyte). LTO thin film electrodes were prepared as conductive additive-free and binder-free model electrodes.

Thermoelectric Limitations of Graphene Nanodevices at Ultrahigh Current Densities.

Graphene is atomically thin, possesses excellent thermal conductivity, and is able to withstand high current densities, making it attractive for many nanoscale applications such as field-effect transistors, interconnects, and thermal management layers. Enabling integration of graphene into such devices requires nanostructuring, which can have a drastic impact on the self-heating properties, in particular at high current densities. Here, we use a combination of scanning thermal microscopy, finite element thermal analysis, and scanning transmission electron microscopy techniques to observe prototype graphene devices in operation and gain a deeper understanding of the role of geometry and interfaces during high current density operation.

Determination of electric and thermoelectric properties of molecular junctions by AFM in peak force tapping mode.

Molecular thin films, such as self-assembled monolayers (SAMs), offer the possibility of translating the optimised thermophysical and electrical properties of high-Seebeck-coefficient single molecules to scalable device architectures. However, for many scanning probe-based approaches attempting to characterise such SAMs, there remains a significant challenge in recovering single-molecule equivalent values from large-area films due to the intrinsic uncertainty of the probe-sample contact area coupled with film damage caused by contact forces. Here we report a new reproducible non-destructive method for probing the electrical and thermoelectric (TE) properties of small assemblies (10-10) of thiol-terminated molecules arranged within a SAM on a gold surface, and demonstrate the successful and reproducible measurements of the equivalent single-molecule electrical conductivity and Seebeck values.