Interlayer heat conductivity and thermal stability of distorted bilayer graphene

The nonorthogonal tight-binding potential is augmented by long-range terms needed for a correct description of the interlayer interaction in bilayer graphene. The molecular dynamics method is used to study the heat transfer between two distorted graphene layers, one of which is initially cooled down to 0 K, and the second one is heated up to 77–7000 K. The characteristic time of the heat transfer depending on the initial temperature of the heated layer and the distortion of the layers is determined. It is demonstrated that both factors significantly affect the intensity of interlayer heat transfer. It is found that, during the characteristic time of temperature equalization, thermally induced defects of various types, including melting, separation of the layers, and tangential shear of the heated layer, can appear in the system. It is shown that the formation of thermally induced defects can result in more than an order of magnitude increase in the rate of interlayer heat transfer.