Heat Conductivity of One-Dimensional Carbon Chain in an External Potential

The heat transport in a one-dimensional (1D) carbon nanowire (CNW) lying in an external potential with different amplitudes and periods is studied by the non-equilibrium molecular dynamics method. It is found that the thermal conductivity of CNW is always anomalous, increasing with the CNW length and obeying the power law k ～ N, in which α decreases with the increasing external potential amplitude. The thermal conductivity could be enhanced by the external potential with rather larger amplitudes, which means that an applied external potential could be an efficient tool to improve the heat conductivity of a real 1D material. In addition, the effect of different periods of
the external potential is studied, finding the external potential with an incommensurate period leads to the smaller α value.