Thermal conductivity of individual carbon nanofibers

In the present paper, we present results of thermal conductivity measurements in commercially-available, chemical vapor deposition grown, heat-treated and non-heat-treated individual carbon nanofibers (CNFs). The thermal conductivity measurements are made using the T-type probe experimental configuration using a Wollaston wire probe inside a high resolution scanning electron microscope. The results show a significant increase in the thermal conductivity of CNFs that are annealed at 2800 degrees C for 20 h when compared with the non-heat-treated CNF samples. When adjusted for thermal contact resistance, the highest measured thermal conductivity is 449 +/- 39 W/m-K. The average thermal conductivity of the heat-treated samples is 163 W/m-K, while the average thermal conductivity of the non-heat-treated samples is 4.6 W/m-K. The results demonstrate the importance of the quality of the CNFs, in particular their heat treatment (high temperature annealing), in controlling their thermal conductivity for thermal management applications. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.