Understanding of temperature and size dependences of effective thermal conductivity of nanotubes

The anomalous thermal transport properties of nanotubes may lead to many important applications, but the mechanisms are still unclear. In this work, we present new governing equations for non-Fourier heat conduction in nanomaterials based on the concept of thermomass. The effective thermal conductivities of nanotubes are therefore predicted which agree very well with the available experimental data. Analysis suggests that the inertial effect of heat and the confined heat flux by nanostructured surfaces are two key mechanisms causing the anomalous temperature and size dependences of effective thermal conductivity of nanotubes.