Interlayer and intralayer interactions in a graphene junction beyond nearest neighbors

Abstract

The potential applications of the ballistic property of the thermal transport due to phonons in a zigzag graphene junction has prompted scientists to study the material's thermal properties. A zigzag graphene junction placed between a heat source and a heat sink has an induced temperature gradient wherein ballistic thermal transport becomes possible. Thermal transport studies for this system are usually characterized at the molecular level by nearest neighbor interactions between the carbon atoms within the junction. This paper aims to derive interlayer and intralayer interactions beyond nearest neighbors using a harmonic interaction potential and highlight their effects. We successfully determined these interactions by taking the Hamiltonian interaction matrix and illustrated a systematic way to add more interactions between graphene interlayers.