Anisotropic phonon transport in van der Waals nanostructures

•Classical anisotropic model cannot predict thermal conductivity of vdW nanowire.•In-plane phonons dominate thermal transport except cross-plane direction in bulk.•Cross-plane phonons dominate thermal transport except in-plane direction in nanowire.•Phonons transport by zigzag way in thin anisotropic vdW nanowire.