Results in Physics 15 (2019) 102608

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Results in Physics
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/rinp

Directional dependence of electrical and thermal properties in graphene- T

nanoplatelet-based composite materials
⁎
Junjie Chen , Xuhui Gao
Department of Energy and Power Engineering, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, Jiaozuo, Henan, China

A R T I C LE I N FO A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Graphene nanoplatelets have emerged as an efficient filler in matrices due to their remarkable thermal con-
Composite materials ductivity and electrical conductivity. What is not entirely clear, however, is how the physical properties of the
Thermal properties derived composite materials are directionally dependent. The primary focus of this study was on determining
Electrical properties this dependence. The electrical and thermal properties of the composite materials were studied to understand
Graphene-nanoplatelets
what causes anisotropy and how to control this phenomenon effectively. The results indicated that graphene-
Anisotropy
Thermal interface materials
nanoplatelet-based composite materials can possess a high degree of anisotropy with respect to electrical and
thermal conductivity. Electrical and thermal anisotropy in the derived composite materials arise due to the
alignment of graphene nanoplatelets in the matrices resulting from very high compression. This allows a thermal
management system to be designed to preferentially transfer energy in selected directions. The physical prop-
erties are very different, by up to three orders of magnitude with respect to electrical conductivity and five times
with respect to thermal conductivity, in different directions. The degree of anisotropy increases with decreasing
the viscosity of the matrix. Implications of the results on thermal management applications were discussed, and
recommendations were also presented on the development of graphene-nanoplatelet-based thermal interface
materials.

Introduction
Thermal interface materials are typically used to facilitate the dis-
sipation of thermal energy from a heat source, more particularly from
an electronic package [1,2]. This has become an increasingly important
problem due to the rapid growth of the electronics industry [3,4].
Commercial thermal interface materials are typically based on com-
posites filled with thermally conductive particles such as silver, alu-
mina, aluminium, or silica [5,6]. However, these composite materials
typically require a filler volume fraction of about 70% in order to
achieve thermal conductivity values in the range of approximately
2.0–5.0 W/m·K [7,8]. Several forms of carbon materials have been used
as fillers in composite materials [9,10]. In particular, carbon nanotubes
have emerged as an efficient filler in polymer matrices owing to their
superior mechanical strength, extraordinary electrical conductivity,
high thermal conductivity, moderate chemical stability, and high aspect
ratio [11,12]. For example, the thermal conductivity of an individual
single-walled carbon nanotube has been found to be approximately
3500 W/m·K in the longitudinal direction at room temperature [13,14].
Despite significant recent progress, carbon nanotube based composite
materials have fallen short of predicted thermal conductivity values due
to their high thermal interface resistance [15,16].
Graphites [17,18], in particular graphene nanoplatelets [19,20],
have many unique physical properties, making it potentially suitable
for use in the dissipation of thermal energy from microelectronic de-
vices. These materials are readily applicable to thermal management
applications [21,22] due to its ability to conform to any surface aspe-
rities and particularly its extraordinary thermal conductivity. For in-
stance, the thermal conductivity of pyrolytic graphite has been found to
be approximately 2000 W/m·K at room temperature [23,24]. These
characteristics are of importance to the optimum design of thermal
management systems [25,26]. With consideration of the material cost,
the thermal contact conductance, the chemical reactivity, and the
processing complexity, carbon black is a much more attractive choice
than graphene nanoplatelets as a filler for thermal interface materials
[27,28]. However, the thermal properties of graphene-nanoplatelet-
based composite materials can be directionally dependent, thus al-
lowing thermal management systems to be designed to preferentially
transfer energy in selected directions [29,30]. Graphites are made up of
layer planes of hexagonal arrays of carbon atoms [31,32], which are

⁎
Corresponding author at: Department of Energy and Power Engineering, School of Mechanical and Power Engineering, Henan Polytechnic University, 2000
Century Avenue, Jiaozuo, Henan 454000, PR China.
E-mail address: cjj@hpu.edu.cn (J. Chen).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rinp.2019.102608
Received 11 July 2019; Received in revised form 19 August 2019; Accepted 20 August 2019
Available online 23 August 2019
2211-3797/ © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/BY-NC-ND/4.0/).
J. Chen and X. Gao
usually referred to as graphene layers or basal planes [33,34]. Highly
ordered graphites typically possess a high degree of anisotropy due to
the preferred orientation of crystallites [35,36]. Arguably, the most
fundamental aspect of anisotropy is the relationship between structure
and properties [37,38].
Exfoliated graphene nanoplatelets are new types of nanoparticles
made from graphite. This sheet material has attracted increasing in-
terest as a new form of thermally conducting filler due to their ex-
tremely high level of the intrinsic thermal conductivity in the directions
parallel to the carbon layers [39,40]. For instance, the thermal con-
ductivity of suspended single layer graphene has been found to be in the
range from 1500 to 2500 W/m·K at room temperature [41,42]. This
feature facilitates the formation of an efficient conductive network
within a matrix material [43,44]. Graphene nanoplatelets also possess a
high degree of anisotropy caused by the orientation structure of gra-
phite layers [45,46]. Knowledge of electrical and thermal anisotropy is
important in identifying effective energy transport processes in thermal
interface materials. It is therefore of great significance to understand
what causes anisotropy and how to control this phenomenon effectively
for thermal interface materials. Nanometer-scale structures often dic-
tate the flow of energy in graphene-nanoplatelet-based composite ma-
terials [47,48]. For thermal management applications, a high degree of
anisotropy would be particularly advantageous, since it causes the
transport of energy to remain fixed, for example, in thermal interface
materials in some desired direction. However, in spite of the increasing
importance of thermal management in thermal interface materials,
there does not exist a unified fundamental understanding of the nan-
ometer-scale structural features contributing to the transport of energy
in graphene-nanoplatelet-based composite materials [49,50]. It is
therefore necessary to determine how their physical properties are di-
rectionally dependent.
Graphene-nanoplatelet-based composites are regarded as a poten-
tially fruitful area for the development of fundamentally new thermal
interface materials. A fundamental understanding of the relationships
between processing, structure, and anisotropic properties is a major
goal of this area of research [51,52], which may lead to optimum
performance of thermal interface materials reinforced with graphene
nanoplatelets. However, further investigations into the anisotropic
properties of such materials are needed to understand the reinforcing
mechanism at work in different directions. The objective of this study is
to determine the directional dependence of electrical and thermal
properties for graphene-nanoplatelet-based composite materials. The
importance of matrix viscosity in the degree of anisotropy was high-
lighted with respect to electrical and thermal conductivity. Particular
emphasis was placed on understanding what causes anisotropy and how
to control this physical phenomenon effectively, as it is crucial to the
development of nearly all graphene-nanoplatelet-based composite ma-
terials, especially for thermal management applications.
Methods
Materials
Graphene nanoplatelets (product code: TNGNPs) were obtained
from Chengdu Organic Chemicals Co., Ltd. (Chengdu, China), with the
number of carbon layers less than 20, and higher than 99.5% by weight
in chemical purity. One of the matrices used in this research was an
epoxy resin (product code: Araldite® LY 1564 SP) and an amine curing
agent (product code: Aradur® 3486) from Huntsman Advanced
Materials Americas Inc. (The Woodlands, Texas, United States). The
other matrices used in this research were silicon oil (product code:
DMS-T25) obtained from Gelest, Inc. (Morrisville, Pennsylvania, United
States) and base oil (product code: HATCOL® 5068) obtained from
Petrico Ltd. (Sandbach, United Kingdom).
It is worth noting that epoxy resins offer a wide variety of thermal
greases used in thermal management applications [53,54]. Silicon oil
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Results in Physics 15 (2019) 102608
and base oil are also typical matrix materials for use in thermal man-
agement applications. The combination of oil and graphene nanopla-
telets can improve conformability and, therefore lower the thermal
resistance at contacting surfaces [55,56].
Preparation of composite materials
To focus primarily on the influence of the type of matrices, all
thermal interface materials were prepared in a similar way. The ma-
terial preparation process described herein is provided for the epoxy
resin only. On the other hand, only the epoxy resin was used to prepare
a series of cured composite materials in accordance with the method
described below.
Shear mixing (Fisherbrand™ 850 Homogenizer, Fisher Scientific
International, Inc., Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States) of graphene
nanoplatelets in acetone was performed at 2000 rpm for one hour at
room temperature. Subsequent application of ultrasonic irradiation for
eight hours resulted in stable suspensions of graphene nanoplatelets.
The epoxy resin was added to the dispersion of the filler, and shear
mixing was performed on the mixture at 2000 rpm for one hour. The
solvent was then removed by heat treatment at approximately 50° C in a
vacuum oven for 20 h. The mixture was subsequently used to prepare a
series of epoxy matrix composite materials, including thermal interface
materials and cured composite materials.
To prepare epoxy matrix thermal interface materials, the mixture
was processed utilizing a dual asymmetric centrifugal mixing system
DAC 1100.1 VAC-P (FlackTek Inc., Landrum, South Carolina, United
States) at 3200 rpm for 2 min to produce thermally conductive greases.
Thermal grease is commonly used as a main kind of thermal interface
materials in the electronics industry. The prepared thermal interface
materials did not cure, without adding any curing agent, and their
viscosity would allow them to stay in position during use. It is worth
noting that the prepared thermal interface materials were mainly in the
form of pastes. All the prepared thermal interface materials were
compressed and rolled into thin films so as to obtain roll-induced ani-
sotropy. The alignment of graphene nanoplatelets in the matrices re-
sults from high compression, for example, roll pressing. More specifi-
cally, high compression treatment was performed at a pressure of
0.2 MPa and a temperature of about 60° C for about 2 h.
To prepare cured composite materials, the amine curing agent was
added to the prepared thermal interface materials while continuously
stirring. The mixture containing the curing agent was processed uti-
lizing the dual asymmetric centrifugal mixing system to produce a
thermally conductive grease. The prepared grease was compressed and
rolled into a thin film so as to obtain roll-induced anisotropy. The thin
film was subsequently loaded into a stainless steel mold, degassed, and
heated in vacuum. Heat treatment and high compression treatment
were performed simultaneously at a pressure of 0.4 MPa and a tem-
perature of about 100° C for about 2 h, followed by additional heat
treatment and high compression treatment at a pressure of 0.2 MPa and
a temperature of about 150° C for about 2 h to complete the curing
cycle.
Physical characterization
The thermal conductivity of the prepared composite materials with
different mass fraction of graphene nanoplatelets was measured with
the Hot Disk TPS 2500 S thermal constants analyzer (Hot Disk AB,
Gothenburg, Sweden) using transient plane source hot-disk technique
[57,58]. This technique has been used as an efficient thermal con-
ductivity measurement tool for thermal interface materials [59,60]. The
thermal conductivity was measured in accordance with ISO 22007-
1:2017 and ISO 22007-2:2015 [61,62] by sandwiching an electrically
insulated flat disk-shaped nickel sensor in between two identical sam-
ples of graphene-nanoplatelet-based composite materials. The sensor
behaves as the heat source and the temperature monitor
J. Chen and X. Gao Results in Physics 15 (2019) 102608

simultaneously. The surfaces of the prepared epoxy matrix composite

materials were flattened and cleaned to reduce contact resistance be-
tween the sensor-sample surfaces. The thermal conductivity of the
conducting thin-films of the prepared composite materials in the di-
rection parallel to the carbon layers was measured using a comparative
technique [63,64]. Thermal conduction in the prepared thermal inter-
face materials and composite materials was found to be anisotropic,
since the difference between the thermal conductivities measured along
three mutually perpendicular axes was significant. The selection of
three mutually perpendicular axes was made based on the pressure
loading direction during the preparation process of thermal interface
materials and composite materials. There was no significant difference
in thermal conductivity between the two directions that are perpendi-
cular to the pressure loading direction.
The electrical properties of the prepared composite materials were
characterized at room temperature by dielectric spectroscopy with the
digital MFIA impedance analyzer (Zurich Instruments Ltd., Zurich,
Switzerland). The electrical conductivity of the conducting thin-films of
the prepared composite materials in the direction parallel to the carbon
layers was measured using a standard four-point probe in-line tech-
nique [65,66], whereas the electrical conductivity in the direction
perpendicular to the carbon layers was measured using the two-point
probe technique. Electrical conduction in the prepared thermal inter-
face materials was also found to be anisotropic.
On the other hand, the dynamic viscosity of the matrices used in this
study was measured at room temperature using DV2T touch screen
viscometer (Brookfield Engineering Laboratories, Inc., Middleboro,
Massachusetts, United States).

Results

The term anisotropy is utilized in this study to describe direction-

dependent properties of the prepared composite materials. Briefly,
graphene nanoplatelets may be characterized as laminated structures of
carbon, that is, structures consisting of superposed layers or laminae of
carbon atoms joined together by weak van der Waals forces [67,68].
Two directions are usually noted in considering the structure of gra-
phene nanoplatelets, i.e., the direction perpendicular to the carbon
layers and the direction parallel to the carbon layers [69,70].
Scanning electron, transmission electron, and atomic force micro-
graphs of the graphene nanoplatelets used for the preparation of
thermal interface materials and cured composite materials are pre-
sented in Fig. 1. It is clear that the graphene nanoplatelets used in this
study are thin plate-like material with substantially flat, smooth sur-
faces, and have a lateral size which varies between about 5 to 10 μm. In
addition, the graphene nanoplatelets have a narrow thickness dis-
tribution, as illustrated in Fig. 1(c). The average thickness of the gra-
phene nanoplatelets used in this study varies from 4 to 20 nm. Fur-
thermore, this sheet material is substantially separated from each other,
and the carbon layers in each of the graphene nanoplatelets possesses a
very high degree of orientation.
A scanning electron micrograph of the epoxy matrix composite
material reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets is presented in Fig. 2.
The composite material does cure, with adding an amine curing agent.
Graphene nanoplatelets are present in the cured epoxy matrix compo-
site material in an amount of 2% by weight. Graphene nanoplatelets
possess a very high degree of orientation in the polymer matrix. Gra-
phene nanoplatelets prefer to align in the direction perpendicular to
pressure loading during the preparation process of epoxy matrix com-
posite materials.
Measurements on the electrical conductivity of the prepared
thermal interface materials are performed to determine their direction-
dependent electrical properties. The electrical conductivity of the con-
ducting thin-films of the prepared thermal interface materials in the
direction parallel to the carbon layers and in the direction perpendi-
cular to the carbon layers is shown in Fig. 3. Each of the conducting
Fig. 1. Scanning electron, transmission electron, and atomic force micrographs
of the graphene nanoplatelets used for the preparation of thermal interface
materials.
thin-films possesses an average thickness of 0.2 mm, and the loading
fraction of graphene nanoplatelets is 20% based upon the total weight
of each thermal interface material. The dynamic viscosity measured for
the matrices, i.e., epoxy resin, silicon oil, and base oil is 2822, 548, and
86 mPa·s, respectively, at room temperature, which are also included in
the figure.
It is clear from Fig. 3 that the prepared thermal interface materials
are highly anisotropic with respect to electrical conductivity. The dif-
ference of each thermal interface material in electrical properties is
significant, by about three orders of magnitude, between the direction
parallel to the carbon layers and the direction perpendicular to the
carbon layers. In addition, as the dynamic viscosity of the matrices
increases, there is a decrease in the electrical conductivity of the thin
film materials in the direction parallel to the carbon layers, but an in-
crease in the electrical conductivity of the thin film materials in the
direction perpendicular to the carbon layers.
The anisotropy ratio is a dimensionless number that is used to
quantify the anisotropy for the prepared thermal interface materials.
Conceptually, this dimensionless number quantifies how far a material
is from being isotropic, where the value of unity means an isotropic

3
J. Chen and X. Gao
Fig. 2. Scanning electron micrographs of the epoxy matrix composite material
reinforced with graphene nanoplatelets. The composite material does cure, with
adding an amine curing agent. Graphene nanoplatelets are present in the cured
epoxy matrix composite material in an amount of 2% by weight.
Fig. 3. Electrical conductivity of the conducting thin-films of the prepared
thermal interface materials in the direction parallel to the carbon layers and in
the direction perpendicular to the carbon layers. Each of the thin films is
0.2 mm in average thickness, and graphene nanoplatelets are present in each of
the thermal interface materials in an amount of 20% by weight.
material. The electrical conductivity anisotropy ratio as a function of
the type of matrices is shown in Fig. 4. The anisotropy ratio is sig-
nificantly affected by the type of matrices. More specifically, the
thermal interface material containing base oil has a ratio of electrical
anisotropy higher than 1600, whereas that containing epoxy resin has a
ratio of electrical anisotropy lower than 600. Nonetheless, all the
thermal interface materials have a very high ratio of electrical aniso-
tropy, since there is a two-dimensional basis for thermal conduction
paths within a matrix when graphene nanoplatelets are aligned in
parallel.
Measurements on the thermal conductivity of the prepared thermal
interface materials are also performed in order to determine how their
thermal properties are directionally dependent. The thermal con-
ductivity of the conducting thin-films of the prepared thermal interface
materials in the direction perpendicular to the carbon layers is shown in
Fig. 5. Each of the thin films is 0.2 mm in thickness, and graphene
nanoplatelets are present in each of the thermal interface materials in
an amount of 20% by weight. As the dynamic viscosity of the matrices
4
Results in Physics 15 (2019) 102608
Fig. 4. Effect of the type of matrices on the ratio of anisotropy of the electrical
conductivity of thermal interface materials and cured composite materials.
Fig. 5. Thermal conductivity of the conducting thin-films of the prepared
thermal interface materials in the direction perpendicular to the carbon layers.
The average thickness and loading fraction of graphene nanoplatelets are the
same as those given in Fig. 3.
increases, there is an increase in the thermal conductivity of the thin
film materials in the direction perpendicular to the carbon layers,
which is similar to that obtained for electrical conductivity in the same
direction, as shown in Fig. 3. The thermal conductivity of these thin
film materials is in the range from 0.6 to 1.2 W/m·K in the direction
perpendicular to the carbon layers.
The thermal conductivity of an epoxy matrix composite material
under different preparation conditions in the direction perpendicular to
the carbon layers is shown in Fig. 6. The thermal conductivity of a
cured epoxy matrix composite material in the direction parallel to the
carbon layers is also included in the figure. It is clear from the figure
that the thermal conductivity of an epoxy matrix composite material
increases with increasing the amount of graphene nanoplatelets in the
material. The thermal conductivity of a cured epoxy matrix composite
material is much higher than that of a thermal interface material
comprising an epoxy matrix, as shown in Fig. 6. The results are fairly
intuitive, as the state of matter is completely different between uncured
and cured composite materials. Uncured thermal interface materials are
mainly in the form of pastes, whereas cured composite materials exist in
the solid state. The microscopic mechanisms of thermal conduction in
pastes are completely different from those in solids. When the epoxy
matrix composite material undergoes a phase change, for example,
J. Chen and X. Gao
Fig. 6. Thermal conductivity of an epoxy matrix composite material under
different preparation conditions in the direction perpendicular to the carbon
layers and in the direction parallel to the carbon layers. The average thickness is
the same as that given in Fig. 3.
from paste to solid, the thermal conductivity may change abruptly.
Thermal conduction in the cured epoxy matrix composite material
has been found to be anisotropic. Most noticeably, the thermal con-
ductivity of the cured epoxy matrix composite material is very different,
by 5.1 times, between the direction parallel to the carbon layers and the
direction perpendicular to the carbon layers, as shown in Fig. 6. The
thermal conductivity is moderate in the direction parallel to the carbon
layers, which is in an acceptable range for practical applications in the
field of thermal interface materials.
Discussion
In real electronics cooling applications, it is of great significance to
reduce the total thermal resistance between a heat source and a heat
sink [71,72]. This is because the reliability and performance of an
electronic device deteriorate with increasing temperature [73,74]. One
of the most common methods used to reduce the total thermal re-
sistance is illustrated schematically in Fig. 7. Herein, a thermal interface
material can be “sandwiched” between the heat source and the heat
sink. Thermally, a thermal interface material should have reasonably
high bulk thermal conductivity with low contact resistance. The pre-
ferred orientation of graphene nanoplatelets in the thermal interface
material is also illustrated schematically in Fig. 7. In this case, graphene
nanoplatelets have well-ordered carbon layers in a direction perpen-
dicular to the two mating surfaces, causing heat to flow preferentially in
this direction. Each of the prepared thermal interface materials pos-
sesses a high degree of anisotropy with respect to physical properties, as
shown in Figs. 3–6, due to the alignment of graphene nanoplatelets
substantially parallel to the opposed faces of the thin film caused by
very high compression. These materials thus produced have a very high
degree of orientation.
Since graphene nanoplatelets possess anisotropic structures, the
prepared thermal interface materials possess electrical and thermal
properties that are highly directional, as shown in Figs. 3–6. This fea-
ture becomes more pronounced with decreasing the dynamic viscosity
of the matrices. More specifically, there is an increase in the ratio of
anisotropy of the electrical conductivity of thermal interface materials
with decreasing the dynamic viscosity of the matrices, as shown in
Fig. 4. This implies that the viscosity of a thermal interface material
makes alignment difficult, but base oil will reduce the viscosity of the
thermal interface material to allow for optimal alignment of graphene
nanoplatelets. The thermal conductivity of the prepared thin film
5
Results in Physics 15 (2019) 102608
materials in the direction perpendicular to the carbon layers decreases
with decreasing the dynamic viscosity of the matrices, as shown in
Fig. 5. This gives further evidence of the importance of the viscosity of a
matrix in the degree of anisotropy with respect to physical properties.
In the prepared anisotropic thermal interface materials, the direc-
tional dependence of electrical and thermal properties is very different.
It is clear from Figs. 4 and 6 that the degree of electrical anisotropy is
about two orders of magnitude higher than that of thermal anisotropy.
There is markedly different behavior of thermal and electrical transport
with respect to the development of anisotropic thermal interface ma-
terials. This difference is derived more or less from the different natures
of the filler and the matrices. In fact, the electrical conductivity of the
filler is dramatically different from that of the matrices. In contrast, the
difference in thermal conductivity is less impressive between the filler
and the matrices. In comparison with the ratio of electrical conductivity
between the filler and the matrices, the corresponding ratio of thermal
conductivity is very small. As a consequence, there exists significant
difference between thermal and electrical transport in anisotropic
thermal interface materials. In this context, the flow of electric current
through a macroscopic conductive network formed within a matrix
[75,76] is the most significant means of electrical conduction within a
graphene nanoplatelet-based composite material. In contrast, the heat
flow via heat conduction through the matrix [77,78] is the dominant
means of heat transfer within a graphene nanoplatelet-based composite
material, accompanied by transport via heat conduction through the
thermally conductive filler in the direction parallel to the carbon layers.
Effective thermal resistance is an important performance metric for
a thermal interface material [79,80]. The effective thermal resistance
across a thermal interface material is comprised of three individual
resistances in series, as depicted in Fig. 7. This performance metric
depends on the bulk resistance of the thermal interface material, as well
as the contact resistance at contacting surfaces [81,82]. It is therefore of
paramount importance to reduce the thermal resistance as much as
possible [83,84]. The thermal insulance of the prepared composite
materials, which is determined based on the thermal resistance of unit
area of a prepared material, varies from 20.6 to 32.8 mm2·K/W in the
direction parallel to the carbon layers. The thermal insulance of most
commercially available thermal interface materials is in the range from
10 to 50 mm2·K/W [85,86]. The thermal insulance of the prepared
composite materials is essentially within this range in the direction
parallel to the carbon layers. However, the thermal insulance in the
direction perpendicular to the carbon layers varies from 105.2 to
167.0 mm2·K/W, which is higher than the upper limit of the range given
above. On the other hand, the effective thermal conductivity of the best
commercially available thermal interface materials is on the order of
5–10 W/m·K [87,88]. It is clear from Fig. 6 that the prepared composite
materials might be applicable to thermal management applications due
to its moderate bulk thermal conductivity in the direction parallel to the
carbon layers.
Conclusions
The transport properties of graphene-nanoplatelet-based composite
materials were studied to understand what causes anisotropy and how
to control this physical phenomenon effectively. The thermal and
electrical properties of the composite materials were determined in
different directions.
The results indicated that there is a significant difference in physical
properties in different directions. Graphene-nanoplatelet-based com-
posite materials can possess a high degree of anisotropy with respect to
electrical and thermal conductivity due to a very high degree of
alignment of the conducting filler in the matrices caused by very high
compression. The physical properties of graphene-nanoplatelet-based
composite materials can be very different, by about three orders of
magnitude with respect to electrical conductivity and about five times
with respect to thermal conductivity, between the direction parallel to
J. Chen and X. Gao
Fig. 7. (a) Schematic illustration of a real thermal interface material and associated temperature distribution. (b) Preferred orientation of graphene nanoplatelets in
the thermal interface material.
the carbon layers and the direction perpendicular to the carbon layers.
The degree of anisotropy in graphene-nanoplatelet-based composite
materials increases with decreasing the viscosity of the matrix material.
Maximizing anisotropy is essential for thermal management applica-
tions. Base oil is particularly effective as a matrix material in improving
electrical anisotropy than silicon oil and epoxy resins.
Acknowledgement
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (No. 51506048). The authors would also like to
acknowledge Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and
Engineering, affiliated to the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for the
support of preparation and characterization of composite materials.
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