Ultra-Low Thermal Conductivity of Moiré Diamanes

Abstract

Ultra-thin diamond membranes, diamanes, are one of the most intriguing quasi-2D films, combining unique mechanical, electronic and optical properties. At present, diamanes have been obtained from bi- or few-layer graphene in AA- and AB-stacking by full hydrogenation or fluorination. Here, we study the thermal conductivity of diamanes obtained from bi-layer graphene with twist angle (Formula presented.) between layers forming a Moiré pattern. The combination of DFT calculations and machine learning interatomic potentials makes it possible to perform calculations of the lattice thermal conductivity of such diamanes with twist angles (Formula presented.) of 13.2 (Formula presented.), 21.8 (Formula presented.) and 27.8 (Formula presented.) using the solution of the phonon Boltzmann transport equation. Obtained results show that Moiré diamanes exhibit a wide variety of thermal properties depending on the twist angle, namely a sharp decrease in thermal conductivity from high for “untwisted” diamanes to ultra-low values when the twist angle tends to 30 (Formula presented.), especially for hydrogenated Moiré diamanes. This effect is associated with high anharmonicity and scattering of phonons related to a strong symmetry breaking of the atomic structure of Moiré diamanes compared with untwisted ones.