Scalable Compliant Graphene Fiber-Based Thermal Interface Material with Metal-Level Thermal Conductivity via...

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology
• Mechanical Engineering

Background:

• High-performance thermal interface materials (TIMs) are crucial for dissipating heat in high-power electronics.
• Existing TIMs face a trade-off between thermal conductivity and mechanical compliance, limiting heat transfer efficiency.
• Graphene fibers (GFs) offer high thermal conductivity and flexibility, presenting a potential solution.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop an elastic TIM with metal-level thermal conductivity using graphene fibers.
• To overcome the mechanical-thermal mismatch in conventional filler-enhanced TIMs.
• To demonstrate the effectiveness of mechanical-electric dual-field synergistic alignment engineering.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing graphene fibers (GFs) with high thermal conductivity (~1200 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹) and flexibility.
• Employing mechanical-electric dual-field synergistic alignment engineering for vertical GF alignment.
• Achieving high orientation (0.88) and array density (33.5 mg cm⁻²) of GFs.

Main Results:

• GF-based TIM achieved a through-plane thermal conductivity of 82.4 W m⁻¹ K⁻¹ at 17 wt% filler content.
• Demonstrated low compressive modulus (0.57 MPa) and high resilience (95%).
• Exhibited low contact thermal resistance (7.4 K mm² W⁻¹), comparable to indium foil.

Conclusions:

• The GF-based elastic TIM offers a scalable solution for high-performance thermal management.
• Synergistic alignment engineering effectively addresses the mechanical-thermal mismatch in TIMs.
• This approach provides a paradigm for designing advanced TIMs for demanding electronic applications.