Thermal characterization of single-wall carbon nanotube bundles using the self-heating 3ω technique

In this work, we have developed a complete solution for the thermal transport in single-wire based 3 omega experiment and have studied the effect of radiation on the experiment. Microscale Pt wires are used as the reference sample to measure its specific heat and thermal conductivity. Sound agreement between the measurement data and reference values is obtained. A series of experiments is conducted to characterize the thermal transport property of single-wall carbon nanotube (SWCNT) bundles. The average thermal diffusivity measured for three different SWCNT bundles is around 1.74x10(-5) m(2)/s, much less than the thermal diffusivity of bulk graphite in the layer direction. Physical reasons for this low thermal diffusivity are discussed based on our structure study of the SWCNT bundles. (c) 2006 American Institute of Physics.