Investigation of thermal conductivity in thin graphite films through time-resolved X-ray diffraction

Abstract: Knowledge about thermal properties of nanoscale graphite is essential in order to realize the many promising applications of carbon based nanomaterials. This thesis reports how samples of thin graphite films on nickel substrates were investigated using time-resolved X-ray diffraction (TRXD) at the FemtoMAX beamline at the MAX IV facility. Through these investigations the thermal conductivity of the thin graphite films were determined by modeling the system using a one dimensional heat-diffusion model which was fitted to the data. Through investigation of the dynamics in the solid, it was determined that the thermal conductivity of graphite decreases with thinner graphite films as well as increased deposited energy.