Yuxiang Ni

Functionalization mediates heat transport in graphene nanoflakes.

The high thermal conductivity of graphene and few-layer graphene undergoes severe degradations through contact with the substrate. Here we show experimentally that the thermal management of a micro heater is substantially improved by introducing alternative heat-escaping channels into a graphene-based film bonded to functionalized graphene oxide through amino-silane molecules. Using a resistance temperature probe for in situ monitoring we demonstrate that the hotspot temperature was lowered by ∼28 °C for a chip operating at 1,300 W cm−2. Thermal resistance probed by pulsed photothermal reflectance measurements demonstrated an improved thermal coupling due to functionalization on the graphene–graphene oxide interface. Three functionalization molecules manifest distinct interfacial thermal transport behaviour, corroborating our atomistic calculations in unveiling the role of molecular chain length and functional groups. Molecular dynamics simulations reveal that the functionalization constrains the cross-plane phonon scattering, which in turn enhances in-plane heat conduction of the bonded graphene film by recovering the long flexural phonon lifetime.

Highly efficient thermal glue for carbon nanotubes based on azide polymers

Equilibrium molecular dynamics (EMD) simulations and experimental data show that the thermal contact resistance (TCR) between carbon nanotube (CNT) and azide-functionalized polymer with C-N bond is significantly decreased compared to that with Van der Waals force interaction. EMD simulations indicate that C-N covalent bond between CNT and polymer is the most efficient way to reduce TCR, and we measured the lowest thermal interface resistance of Si/CNT/Polymer/Cu thermal interface material as 1.40 mm2 KW−1 with CNTs of 10 μm length. These results provide useful information for future designs of thermal glue for carbon-based materials with better thermal conduction.

Few layer graphene based superlattices as efficient thermal insulators

While graphene and few layer graphene (FLG) are considered as having the highest thermal conductivity in their in-plane directions, our molecular dynamics (MD) simulations however show that those systems are also characterized by a superior thermal contact resistance, which could be largely tuned with the layer number when in contact with a silica substrate. Taking advantages of such a resistive interface, MD simulations show that SiO2/FLG superlattices have a thermal conductivity as low as 0.30 W/m K, exhibiting a promising prospect in nano-scale thermal insulation. These findings pave the way for an improved thermal management of nanoscale systems such as thermal barrier coatings and phase change memory materials with atomic-scale super-insulators.