Phonon thermal properties of graphene from molecular dynamics using different potentials.

Phonon thermal transport in graphene has attracted significant interest in recent years. Phonon thermal properties of graphene are investigated by molecular dynamics simulations using the Tersoff, Tersoff-2010, REBO, and AIREBO potentials. By calculating the phonon properties and thermal conductivity of graphene, the performance of the potentials is evaluated based on comparisons with experimental data. It shows that the Tersoff-2010 and REBO display better dispersion curves for graphene than the original Tersoff and AIREBO. The Tersoff-2010 correctly provides the Γ point phonon velocities of the LA and TA branches as well as the G peak frequency with a value of 46 THz. In addition, the acoustic phonon relaxation time derived from the Tersoff-2010 satisfies the ideal relation "τ-1 ∝ ν2." It is also found that the Tersoff-2010 provides the highest graphene thermal conductivity among the used potentials, and estimates about 30.0% contribution for flexural phonons to the total thermal conductivity. By comparison, the Tersoff-2010 potential is demonstrated to be the most suitable one to describe the phonon thermal properties of graphene.