Thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes with Stone-Wales defects

The thermal conductivity of carbon nanotubes(CNTs) with Stone-Wales(SW) defects is investigated using non-equilibrium molecular dynamics method. The axial temperature and the thermal conductivity of the CNTs with one or more SW defects are simulated and compared with the perfect ones. The influences of the defect density, the length, the chirality of tubes and the ambient temperature are analyzed. It is demonstrated that a sharp jump in the temperature profile and a higher local thermal resistance occur at defect positions, which resulting in lower values for the thermal conductivity of nanotube with defects. As the number of SW defects increase, the thermal conductivity decreases; no matter if with defects, the thermal conductivity of armchair/longer CNTs is bigger than that of the zigzag/shorter ones; the armchair/shorter CNTs is more sensitive to the defect than the zigzag/longer ones.