Functionalized Carbonanotube and Graphene Powders
Class
Article
Department
Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Faculty Mentor
Nick Roberts
Presentation Type
Poster Presentation
Abstract
Carbon allotropes exhibit high thermal transport properties and have been of interest for many years. My current research involves creating functionalized graphene and carbon nanotube powders that can be used to increase the thermal transport properties of various materials including solid composites and fluids. The powders are produced by mechanically exfoliating graphite powder or by dispersing and sonicating carbon nanotubes in a surfactant for several hours. The dispersions are then dehydrated in a vacuum oven for another few hours which creates the useable powder. These powders will then be tested for their conductivity and dispersed into several other materials to examine the impact that these thermally conductive powders have on the effective thermal transport properties of the mixtures. A key factor in increasing the speed of electronic devices is creating more thermally conductive heat sinks. The overall objective is to create thermally conductive composites via graphene and carbon nanotube powders. These composites would provide an alternative to the metals currently being used in electronic devices. Ideally, these composites would be lightweight and more thermally conductive than the metal predecessors.
Start Date
4-9-2015 12:00 PM
Functionalized Carbonanotube and Graphene Powders
Carbon allotropes exhibit high thermal transport properties and have been of interest for many years. My current research involves creating functionalized graphene and carbon nanotube powders that can be used to increase the thermal transport properties of various materials including solid composites and fluids. The powders are produced by mechanically exfoliating graphite powder or by dispersing and sonicating carbon nanotubes in a surfactant for several hours. The dispersions are then dehydrated in a vacuum oven for another few hours which creates the useable powder. These powders will then be tested for their conductivity and dispersed into several other materials to examine the impact that these thermally conductive powders have on the effective thermal transport properties of the mixtures. A key factor in increasing the speed of electronic devices is creating more thermally conductive heat sinks. The overall objective is to create thermally conductive composites via graphene and carbon nanotube powders. These composites would provide an alternative to the metals currently being used in electronic devices. Ideally, these composites would be lightweight and more thermally conductive than the metal predecessors.