Large enhancement of thermal conductivity of aluminum-reduced graphene oxide composites prepared by a single-step method.

Mitra, Arijit; Sahoo, Mihir Ranjan; Samal, Aiswarya; Pradhan, Sunil Kumar; Polai, Balaram; Sahoo, Krishna Rani; Kar, Subrat; Satpathy, Bijoy Kumar; Narayanan, Tharangattu N; Ajayan, Pulickel M; Satyam, Parlapalli V; Nayak, Saroj K

Metal matrix composites have attracted extensive attention from both the research and industrial perspective. In this study, we prepared aluminum-reduced graphene oxide (Al–rGO) composites with enhanced thermal conductivity in an easy single-step process. Pristine Al shows a thermal conductivity of 175 Wm−1K−1 (standard deviation <5%), which increases to 293 Wm−1K−1 for an Al–rGO composite with 1% rGO. Analysis of theoretical models shows that a higher percentage of rGO inside the Al matrix creates a continuous network resulting in more available phase space through which heat carrier phonons travel with less scattering, and hence thermal conductivity of the composite increases. Furthermore, Al–rGO composites show an ∼5% increase in microhardness compared with pristine Al. The electrical resistivity of the composite is comparable to that of pristine Al for a narrow weight percentage of rGO, whereas a 70% enhancement in the thermal conductivity of the composite is observed for the same weight percentage range, suggesting possibilities for exploiting both high electrical and thermal conductivities for various applications.

MATERIALS science; METALLIC composites; ALUMINUM; DENSITY functional theory; THERMAL conductivity

Oxford Open Materials Science, 2023, Vol 3, Issue 1, p1

2633-6979

Academic Journal

10.1093/oxfmat/itac015