A low-cost MEMS tester for measuring single nanostructure's thermal conductivity

A microelectro-mechanical (MEMS) tester that can be used to measure the thermal conductivity of nanowires and nanostrips has been developed. Error analysis showed our measurements were accurate within 21%. This device has a low fabrication requirement so that it can be made in most MEMS laboratories. To verify the function of this device, the thermal conductivity of a carbon nanofiber with a diameter of 225 nm was measured to be 14.7 ± 3.1 Wm−1 K−1, which is close to the value previously reported. This result was within the predicted measurement error and it proves that this device can be an effective tool for the research of nanostructures’ heat transfer, especially for nano-thermoelectrics.