Temperature- and thickness-dependent electrical conductivity of few-layer graphene and graphene nanosheets

• Two types of carrier transport channels, surface channel and interlayer channel, were advised.
• Electron scattering mechanism in the surface channel and interlayer channel were investigated.
• The calculation model of the conductivity of multilayer graphene was established.
• Temperature- and thickness-dependent conductivity of FLG and GNs was simulated.
• Numerical simulation results are consistent with the published experimental results.

We established a calculation model of the conductivity of multilayer graphene based on Boltzmann transport equation and 2D electron gas theory. Numerical simulations show that the conductivities of few-layer graphene and graphene nanosheets are reduced when thickness is increased. The reduction rate decreases for micron-range thicknesses and remains constant thereafter. Moreover, the conductivity increases with the increase in temperature, in which the increase rate declines as temperature increases. Higher thickness exhibits a more obvious temperature effect on conductivity. Such effect also increases with the increase in temperature.