Thermal Transport: Diameter‐Dependent Thermal Transport in Individual ZnO Nanowires and its Correlation with Surface Coating and Defects (Small 5/2012)

The cover picture shows a suspended micro-electrothermal device with an individual ZnO nanowire bridging a heater and temperature sensor. This versatile platform allows simultaneous measurement of both electrical and thermal transport properties of individual nanowires, as well as in-situ structural characterization, in the transmission electron microscope, thus allowing the direct correlation of transport properties with the microstructure of the nanowires under study. The thermal conductivity of the nanowires is found to be dramatically reduced; it is at least one order of magnitude less than bulk values. An empirical relationship for assessing diameter-dependent thermal properties is also observed, in which the thermal conductivity is approximately linearly dependent on the cross-sectional area of the nanowires in the measured diameter range. Furthermore, it is found that an amorphous-carbon coating layer does not perturb the thermal properties of the nanowires, whereas ion irradiation at low dose leads to a remarkable reduction of thermal conductivity. For more information, please read the Full Paper “Diameter-Dependent Thermal Transport in Individual ZnO Nanowires and its Correlation with Surface Coating and Defects” by R. Xie, B. Li, J. T. L. Thong, and co-workers, beginning on Page 738.