Dependence of Thermal Conductivity on Thickness in Single-Walled Carbon Nanotube Films

Herein, we report experimentally dependence of thermal conductivity on thickness of single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) thin films; the measurements are based on the micropipette thermal sensor technique. Accurate and well resolved measurements of thermal conductivity made by the micropipette sensor showed a correlated behavior of thickness and thermal conductivity of CNT films that thermal conductivity decreased as thickness increased. The thickness dependence is explained by reduction of mean free path (MFP), which is induced by more intertubular junctions in more dense-packed carbon nanotube (CNT) networks; the thicker SWCNT films were revealed to have higher density.