Remarkable Thermal Conductivity Reduction of Silicon Nanowires during the Bending Process

The one-dimensional geometry of silicon nanowire helps to overcome the rigid and brittle nature of bulk silicon and enables it to withstand substantial bending stresses. This provides exciting opportunities for the development of flexible electronics. The bending strain introduces atomic displacement in the lattice structure, which inherently has a significant impact on the thermal conductivity. The strain-dependent thermal conductivity of silicon nanowire is crucial to the thermal management and performance of flexible electronic devices. However, in situ thermal conductivity measurement of bending silicon nanowires remains challenging and unreported due to the varying thermal contact resistances between the sample and sensor/heat sink. In this study, the Raman spectroscopy-assisted steady state thermal conductivity measurement method is coupled with a micromanipulation system to successively monitor the thermal conductivity variation of silicon nanowires during the bending process. The result shows that the thermal conductivity of silicon nanowires steeply decreases 55-78% owing to the strain-induced structural deformation during bending. Furthermore, the proposed in situ thermal conductivity measurement method can also be extended to other nanomaterials.