Molecular dynamics simulations of thermal conductivity of silicon nanotubes

We use nonequilibrium molecular dynamics simulations to calculate thermal conductivity of single-walled silicon nanotubes (SWSNT). Using a Stillinger and Weber potential for interactions between silicon, we first apply a heat bath-heat sink method on bulk silicon crystal and find that the result of thermal conductivity at a temperature of 500 K that agrees with literature value. We then apply the same method on SWSNT and find that thermal conductivities at temperatures of 400 and 600 K are similar to the bulk case. The results indicate that the phonon transport properties of silicon are not much affected by the nanotube structure. Copyright © 2006 American Scientific Publishers All rights reserved.