SpringerLink
Log in

Intercalation of copper microparticles in an expanded graphite film with improved through-plane thermal conductivity

  • Composites & nanocomposites
  • Published:
Journal of Materials Science Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

As a type of heat dissipation material, graphite has attracted great attention due to its outstanding thermal conduction. However, the relatively poor through-plane thermal conductivity restricts its applications in certain areas. In this work, a novel thermally conductive film was developed via in situ growth of Cu microparticles between interlayers of expanded graphite (EG). The intercalation of Cu microparticles in EG improved the through-plane thermal conductivity of the film from 8.5 to 11.1 W/(m K), owing to the three-dimensional stacking architecture of Cu/EG hybrid framework, which leads to more thermal paths along the vertical direction. This Cu/EG hybrid film showed better heat spreading ability than the pristine EG film, reducing the working temperature of the LED device by 1.9 °C. Furthermore, the through-plane thermal conductivities of Cu/EG hybrid films can be controlled by the amount of Cu precursors, and the highest through-plane thermal conductivity of 11.1 W/(m K) was achieved with intercalation of 0.8–4.5 μm Cu microparticles by adding 50% Cu precursors. This thermally conductive Cu/EG hybrid film has great potential in the thermal management of electronic devices.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
EUR 32.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or Ebook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 7

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Dai W, Lv L, Lu J, Hou H, Yan Q, Alam FE et al (2019) A paper-like inorganic thermal interface material composed of hierarchically structured graphene/silicon carbide nanorods. ACS Nano 13:1547–1554

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Zou R, Liu F, Hu N, Ning H, Jiang X, Xu C et al (2019) Carbonized polydopamine nanoparticle reinforced graphene films with superior thermal conductivity. Carbon 149:173–180

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Li J, Chen X-Y, Lei R-B, Lai J-F, Ma T-M, Li Y (2019) Highly thermally conductive graphene film produced using glucose under low-temperature thermal annealing. J Mater Sci 54:7553–7562. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-019-03406-x

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Vu MC, Thieu NAT, Lim JH, Choi WK, Won JC, Islam MA et al (2020) Ultrathin thermally conductive yet electrically insulating exfoliated graphene fluoride film for high performance heat dissipation. Carbon 157:741–749

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Feng W, Qin M, Feng Y (2016) Toward highly thermally conductive all-carbon composites: structure control. Carbon 109:575–597

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Wang X, Wu P (2019) Highly thermally conductive fluorinated graphene films with superior electrical insulation and mechanical flexibility. ACS Appl Mater Interfaces 11:21946–21954

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Liu Q, Zhang C, Cheng J, Wang F, Lv Z, Liu Y et al (2019) Modeling of interfacial design and thermal conductivity in graphite flake/Cu composites for thermal management applications. Appl Therm Eng 156:351–358

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Wu M, Chen Z, Huang C, Huang K, Jiang K, Liu J (2019) Graphene platelet reinforced copper composites for improved tribological and thermal properties. RSC Adv 9:39883–39892

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Feng W, Qin M, Lv P, Li J, Feng Y (2014) A three-dimensional nanostructure of graphite intercalated by carbon nanotubes with high cross-plane thermal conductivity and bending strength. Carbon 77:1054–1064

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Liu Z, Guo Q, Shi J, Zhai G, Liu L (2008) Graphite blocks with high thermal conductivity derived from natural graphite flake. Carbon 46:414–421

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Wang LW, Metcalf SJ, Critoph RE, Thorpe R, Tamainot-Telto Z (2011) Thermal conductivity and permeability of consolidated expanded natural graphite treated with sulphuric acid. Carbon 49:4812–4819

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Petroski J, Norley J, Schober J, Reis B, Reynolds RA (2010) Conduction cooling of large LED array systems. In: 2010 12th IEEE Intersociety conference on thermal and thermomechanical phenomena in electronic systems, pp 1–10

  13. Yin X, Smalc M, Norley J, Chang J, Mayer H, Skandakumaran P et al (2008) Thermal tests and analysis of thin graphite heat spreader for hot spot reduction in handheld devices. In: 2008 11th Intersociety conference on thermal and thermomechanical phenomena in electronic systems, pp 583–590

  14. Liang Q, Yao X, Wang W, Liu Y, Wong CP (2011) A three-dimensional vertically aligned functionalized multilayer graphene architecture: an approach for graphene-based thermal interfacial materials. ACS Nano 5:2392–2401

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Feng Z-H, Li T-Q, Hu Z-J, Zhao G-W, Wang J-S, Huang B-Y (2012) Low cost preparation of high thermal conductivity carbon blocks with ultra-high anisotropy from a commercial graphite paper. Carbon 50:3947–3948

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Zhang J, Shi G, Jiang C, Ju S, Jiang D (2015) 3D bridged carbon nanoring/graphene hybrid paper as a high-performance lateral heat spreader. Small 11:6197–6204

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Zhou S, Xu J, Yang Q-H, Chiang S, Li B, Du H et al (2013) Experiments and modeling of thermal conductivity of flake graphite/polymer composites affected by adding carbon-based nano-fillers. Carbon 57:452–459

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  18. Yuan G, Li X, Dong Z, **ong X, Rand B, Cui Z et al (2014) Pitch-based ribbon-shaped carbon-fiber-reinforced one-dimensional carbon/carbon composites with ultrahigh thermal conductivity. Carbon 68:413–425

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Yu L, Park JS, Lim Y-S, Lee CS, Shin K, Moon HJ et al (2013) Carbon hybrid fillers composed of carbon nanotubes directly grown on graphene nanoplatelets for effective thermal conductivity in epoxy composites. Nanotechnology 24:155604

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Evans WJ, Keblinski P (2010) Thermal conductivity of carbon nanotube cross-bar structures. Nanotechnology 21:475704

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Zhao Y, Shi J, Wang H, Tao Z, Liu Z, Guo Q et al (2013) A sandwich structure graphite block with excellent thermal and mechanical properties reinforced by in-situ grown carbon nanotubes. Carbon 51:427–430

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  22. Lu H-F, Kuo W-S, Ko T-H (2011) Microstructures and thermal conductivities of carbon nanotube/graphite nanosheet compacts. Nanoscale Microscale Thermophys Eng 15:209–219

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. De Volder MFL, Tawfick SH, Baughman RH, Hart AJ (2013) Carbon nanotubes: present and future commercial applications. Science 339:535

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Yoshida K, Morigami H (2004) Thermal properties of diamond/copper composite material. Microelectron Reliab 44:303–308

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. Rape A, Liu X, Kulkarni A, Singh J (2013) Alloy development for highly conductive thermal management materials using copper-diamond composites fabricated by field assisted sintering technology. J Mater Sci 48:1262–1267. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-012-6868-2

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Qiu R, Cha HG, Noh HB, Shim YB, Zhang XL, Qiao R et al (2009) Preparation of dendritic copper nanostructures and their characterization for electroreduction. J Phys Chem C 113:15891–15896

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Hsieh C-T, Chen Y-F, Lee C-E, Chiang Y-M, Teng H (2016) Thermal transport in stereo carbon framework using graphite nanospheres and graphene nanosheets. Carbon 106:132–141

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors are very grateful for the financial support from the National Institute of Clean and Low Carbon Energy.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Institute of Clean and Low Carbon Energy, Bei**g, 102211, China

    **g xia, Junqing Liu, Dongfang Zheng, Chunting Duan, Bo Feng, **der Jow, Wenbin Liang & Ke Wang

  2. State Key Laboratory of Chemical Resource Engineering, Bei**g Key Laboratory of Electrochemical Process and Technology for Materials, Bei**g University of Chemical Technology, Bei**g, 100029, China

    **g xia & Huaihe Song

Authors
  1. **g xia
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Junqing Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Dongfang Zheng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Chunting Duan
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Bo Feng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. **der Jow
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Wenbin Liang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. Huaihe Song
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. Ke Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to **g xia, Huaihe Song or Ke Wang.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Supplementary file1 (DOC 894 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

xia, J., Liu, J., Zheng, D. et al. Intercalation of copper microparticles in an expanded graphite film with improved through-plane thermal conductivity. J Mater Sci 55, 7351–7358 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04533-6

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10853-020-04533-6

Search

Navigation