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.