Thermal conductivity of carbon nanocoils.

The extreme reduction of the thermal conductivity by defects and folds in carbon nanocoils (CNCs) are first demonstrated using nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations. The thermal conductivity for two different defect types with five different folds in the CNCs is extensively studied and the maximum reduction can be up to 70% at both room temperature and 600 K by comparison of the corresponding straight single-walled carbon nanotubes. We reveal that the phonon scattering by coupled defects and folds can govern the reduction of the thermal conductivity by calculating phonon polarization vectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]