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Cooling graphene-based film close to pilot-scale production

Date:
April 29, 2016
Source:
Chalmers University of Technology
Summary:
Heat dissipation in electronics and optoelectronics is a severe bottleneck in the further development of systems in these fields. To come to grips with this serious issue, researchers have developed an efficient way of cooling electronics by using functionalized graphene nanoflakes.
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Heat dissipation in electronics and optoelectronics is a severe bottleneck in the further development of systems in these fields. To come to grips with this serious issue, researchers at Chalmers University of Technology have developed an efficient way of cooling electronics by using functionalized graphene nanoflakes. The results will be published in the journal Nature Communications.

"Essentially, we have found a golden key with which to achieve efficient heat transport in electronics and other power devices by using graphene nanoflake-based film. This can open up potential uses of this kind of film in broad areas, and we are getting closer to pilot-scale production based on this discovery," says Johan Liu, Professor of Electronics Production at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden.

The researchers studied the heat transfer enhancement of the film with different functionalized amino-based and azide-based silane molecules, and found that the heat transfer efficiency of the film can be improved by over 76 percent by introducing functionalization molecules, compared to a reference system without the functional layer. This is mainly because the contact resistance was drastically reduced by introducing the functionalization molecules.

Meanwhile, molecular dynamic simulations and ab initio calculations reveal that the functional layer constrains the cross-plane scattering of low-frequency phonons, which in turn enhances in-plane heat-conduction of the bonded film by recovering the long flexural phonon lifetime. The results suggested potential thermal management solutions for electronic devices.

In the research, scientists studied a number of molecules that were immobilized at the interfaces and at the edge of graphene nanoflake-based sheets forming covalent bonds. They also probed interface thermal resistance by using a photo-thermal reflectance measurement technique to demonstrate an improved thermal coupling due to functionalization.

"This is the first time that such systematic research has been done. The present work is much more extensive than previously published results from several involved partners, and it covers more functionalization molecules and also more extensive direct evidence of the thermal contact resistance measurement," says Johan Liu.


Story Source:

Materials provided by Chalmers University of Technology. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.


Journal Reference:

  1. Haoxue Han, Yong Zhang, Nan Wang, Majid Kabiri Samani, Yuxiang Ni, Zainelabideen Y. Mijbil, Michael Edwards, Shiyun Xiong, Kimmo Sääskilahti, Murali Murugesan, Yifeng Fu, Lilei Ye, Hatef Sadeghi, Steven Bailey, Yuriy A. Kosevich, Colin J. Lambert, Johan Liu, Sebastian Volz. Functionalization mediates heat transport in graphene nanoflakes. Nature Communications, 2016; 7: 11281 DOI: 10.1038/ncomms11281

Cite This Page:

Chalmers University of Technology. "Cooling graphene-based film close to pilot-scale production." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 29 April 2016. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160429095021.htm>.
Chalmers University of Technology. (2016, April 29). Cooling graphene-based film close to pilot-scale production. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 28, 2024 from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160429095021.htm
Chalmers University of Technology. "Cooling graphene-based film close to pilot-scale production." ScienceDaily. www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/04/160429095021.htm (accessed March 28, 2024).

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