Measurement of in-plane sheet thermal conductance of single-walled carbon nanotube thin films by steady-state infrared thermography

A useful and rapid method of measuring the in-plane sheet thermal conductance of single-walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) thin films by steady-state infrared thermography is proposed in this study. The SWNT thin films are suspended between the free ends of two cantilevered silicon thin plates, and the two anchored ends are kept at different but constant temperatures to achieve steady-state heat transport through this silicon–SWNT–silicon bridge in vacuum. The temperature gradient along the bridge is captured with an infrared camera. A silicon plate with known thermal conductivity serves as a reference for calculating the heat flux, so that the sheet thermal conductance of SWNT thin films can be calculated using Fourier's law after deducting the influence of thermal radiation. The thermal conductivity of the 50-nm-thick SWNT thin film is 68.1 W m−1 K−1.