Layer dependency of in-plane thermal conductivity in graphene/hBN van der Waals heterostructures: a molecular dynamics study

Due to their excellent in-plane thermal transport properties, graphene (G), hexagonal boron nitride (hBN), and their heterostructures have broad application prospects in the field of thermal management. The in-plane thermal conductivity (TC) of G/hBN van der Waals (vdW) heterostructures by nonequilibrium molecular dynamics (NEMD) method were investigated in this study. The results show that the TC of G/hBN vdW heterostructures is up to ~ 384 Wm −1 K −1 at 300 K, an increase of ~ 16% compared to that of monolayer hBN. The TC of multilayer hBN is increased by up to ~ 60% with the addition of 6 layers of graphene. The effect of interlayer coupling strength on the TC of G/hBN vdW heterostructures is related to the number of layers and vertical thermal transport. The TC of the G/hBN vdW heterostructures is decreased by ~ 30–36% from 300 to 500 K. This work provides valuable references for the application of graphene and hBN in electronic devices to solve thermal management problems. Graphical abstract