Thermal Transport in Supported Graphene: Substrate Effects on Collective Excitations

Graphene's exceptional thermal conductivity is of great interest for heat management in advanced electronic devices, yet there are still fundamental issues regarding substrate effects. Using state-of-the-art simulations, the authors study collective phonon excitations in graphene on on partially hydroxylated silica surfaces, and show that certain vibrational modes can be influenced to increase thermal conductivity beyond that seen with an untreated substrate. This insight opens a path for systematic control of heat flow in this important system.