5 research outputs found
Graphene -- Based Nanocomposites as Highly Efficient Thermal Interface Materials
We found that an optimized mixture of graphene and multilayer graphene -
produced by the high-yield inexpensive liquid-phase-exfoliation technique - can
lead to an extremely strong enhancement of the cross-plane thermal conductivity
K of the composite. The "laser flash" measurements revealed a record-high
enhancement of K by 2300 % in the graphene-based polymer at the filler loading
fraction f =10 vol. %. It was determined that a relatively high concentration
of single-layer and bilayer graphene flakes (~10-15%) present simultaneously
with thicker multilayers of large lateral size (~ 1 micrometer) were essential
for the observed unusual K enhancement. The thermal conductivity of a
commercial thermal grease was increased from an initial value of ~5.8 W/mK to
K=14 W/mK at the small loading f=2%, which preserved all mechanical properties
of the hybrid. Our modeling results suggest that graphene - multilayer graphene
nanocomposite used as the thermal interface material outperforms those with
carbon nanotubes or metal nanoparticles owing to graphene's aspect ratio and
lower Kapitza resistance at the graphene - matrix interface.Comment: 4 figure