Molecular dynamics studies of thermal boundary resistance at carbon–metal interfaces

Molecular dynamics is used to study the interfacial thermal conductance between graphitic structures and metals. It is shown that with different metals, the conductance can vary by ∼4-fold, allowing the control of thermal transport in nanocomposites and nanoelectronic devices. The experimental values of conductance are higher by 10–20 MW m−2 K−1 compared to simulations. We suggest that in addition to lattice vibrations, an electromagnetic coupling between Johnson–Nyquist electric currents in the metal and graphite may contribute to the interfacial thermal conductance.