Graphene nanojunctions (GNJs) are important components of future nanodevices and nanocircuits. Using the nonequilibrium Green’s function method, we investigate the phononic properties of three-terminal GNJs (TGNJs). The results show that the heat flux runs preferentially along the direction from narrow to wide terminals, presenting an evident ballistic thermal rectification effect in the asymmetric TGNJs. The rectification efficiency is strongly dependent on the asymmetry of the nanojunctions, which increases rapidly with the width discrepancy between the left and right terminals. Meanwhile, the corner form of the TGNJs also plays an important role in the rectification effect. The mechanism of this thermal rectification is explained by a qualitative analysis. Compared to previous thermal rectifiers based on other materials, the asymmetric nanojunctions based on graphene possess much high rectification ratio which can approach about 200%. These indicate that asymmetric TGNJs might be a promising candidate for excellent ballistic thermal (phononic) devices.

• Received 12 August 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevB.82.245403