Phonon engineering of graphene by local strain

Due to its extremely high thermal conductivity, graphene is one of the potential candidates for thermal management materials. Because the main heat carrier is phonon, thermal conductivity of graphene can be modulated by inducing the local strain in graphene networks. Here we propose a device structure with which the in-plane thermal conductivity can be measured while inducing the strain into graphene. From atomic force microscopy under 7.3×10
³
Pa, the deflection at the center of the graphene membrane was 35 nm, indicating that the surface area increases by 0.14% from the original surface area under atmospheric pressure. Nanoindentation measurement shows 56% increase in the pretention of the graphene membrane under 7.3×10
³
Pa. Thus, the device structure can be used to measure the thermal conductivity while inducing strain by the pressure difference across the membrane.