Graphene Basics: Insights from a Graphene Cooling Material Manufacturer
Overview: According to manufacturers of graphene cooling materials, graphene is an excellent two-dimensional material with good thermal properties. In recent years, testing its thermal conductivity has become an active research area, providing opportunities for graphene materials to replace other materials as thermal conductors and heat sinks in electronic components. From a practical application standpoint, graphene needs to contact the substrate, making it crucial to reduce the thermal contact resistance between graphene films and substrates in thermal management applications.
Graphene cooling material manufacturers consider graphene an excellent two-dimensional material with good thermal properties. In recent years, with the development of graphene materials, testing their thermal conductivity has become an active research area, offering opportunities for graphene materials to replace other materials as thermal conductors and heat sinks in electronic components. From a practical application standpoint, graphene needs to contact the substrate, so reducing the thermal contact resistance between graphene films and substrates is essential in thermal management applications.
High Thermal Conductivity
Currently, high thermal conductivity cooling is mainly achieved using graphite films. From an industrialization perspective, for graphene films to enter the market, they must not only perform better than graphite films but also be more cost-effective to replace graphite films. This presents a challenge for the industrialization of graphene films. However, once achieved, graphene could enter the heat dissipation market for at least 2 billion high-power devices.
Graphene is a two-dimensional material with sp2 hybridized bonds, forming a single-layer carbon atom crystal. Its superior mechanical, optical, electrical, and thermal properties have garnered widespread interest from the scientific and industrial communities. Graphene’s exceptional properties make it applicable in various fields such as electronics, photonics, chemistry, biology, and interdisciplinary studies. Graphene has a high thermal conductivity, with single-layer suspended graphene reaching up to 5300 W/(mK), far exceeding traditional metal cooling materials like copper (about 400 W/(mK)) and aluminum (about 240 W/(mK)). High thermal conductivity and other excellent properties make graphene a potential next-generation cooling and management material.
Heat Management Challenges and Solutions
As high-power products demand higher performance, portability, and integration, the heat generated per unit area of devices increases rapidly. The primary goal of thermal management is to quickly transfer heat from devices to prevent damage due to excessive temperatures. If electronic products have hot spots with much higher heat flux than other areas, the cooling material must have a higher lateral thermal conductivity. Moreover, the rise of portable and wearable devices necessitates flexible or transparent cooling materials. Traditional metal cooling materials like copper and aluminum can no longer meet the heat dissipation requirements of electronic products.
Experimental Testing Methods
There are currently two main ways to test thermal properties in experiments: suspended graphene and supported graphene. The former has fixed ends with the rest in a free state, while the latter’s entire graphene sheet contacts the substrate. The primary methods for measuring experimental graphene thermal conductivity are photothermal Raman spectroscopy, micro-resistance thermometry, photothermal reflectance, and self-heating methods. Preparing graphene into macroscopic films while retaining its microscopic nano effects is a crucial approach to applying graphene in thermal management. Liquid-phase exfoliation is a solution-based method that easily forms films through techniques like spin coating, drop coating, dip coating, spray coating, and electrospinning.