Thermal conductivity reduction in graphene with silicon impurity

Abstract

We present a molecular dynamics investigation on the thermal conductivity of silicon-doped graphene and the resulting change in phonon properties. A significant reduction in the thermal conductivity is observed in the presence of silicon impurity even at a small concentration of silicon atoms. Conductivity values continued to decrease with an increase in silicon concentration. The increase in the scattering rate, which is measured by the reduction or broadening of the peaks of the van Hove singularities, is the most significant factor contributing to the large conductivity reduction. An analysis with scattering time models shows that the mass displaced by the silicon impurity plays a significant role in reducing the conductivity, especially at a moderate concentration. The non-mass effect, which comes from the change of the sp2 C–C bonds to the sp3 Si–C bonds, is less strong or comparable with the mass change effect. For high impurity concentrations, the shape of the graphene is severely distorted and the irregularity of the ripples increases, which could contribute to the reduction in conductivity.