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Superior thermal interface via vertically aligned carbon nanotubes grown on graphite foils

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Abstract

In an attempt to study the thermal transport at the interface between nanotubes and graphene, vertically aligned multiwalled carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were grown on graphite thin film substrates. A systematic cross-sectional probing of the materials’ morphology of the interface by scanning electron microscopy and high-resolution transmission electron microscopy revealed that an excellent bond existed between the nanotubes and the substrate along some fraction of interface. Imaging and electron diffraction analyses performed at the boundary reveal a polycrystalline interfacial structure. Compositional probing along the interface by energy dispersive x-ray spectroscopy revealed that there were no catalyst particles or other impurities present. The estimated interfacial thermal resistance of lower than 5–7.5 (mm2K)/W suggests that this type of CNT/graphite interface could open up multiple routes toward the designing and development of advanced thermal interface materials for aerospace and nano-/microelectronics applications.

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Acknowledgments

S.G. acknowledges support through U.S. Air Force Contract No. FA8650-05-5052. Authors also acknowledge additional support from Air Force Office of Scientific Research (Task 2302BR7P, Program manager: Dr. Byung-Lip Lee).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Nanoelectronic Materials Branch, Materials & Manufacturing Directorate, Air Force Research Laboratory, Dayton, Ohio, 45433, USA

    Sabyasachi Ganguli, Ajit K. Roy & Vikas Varshney

  2. University of Dayton Research Institute, Dayton, Ohio, 45469, USA

    Sabyasachi Ganguli

  3. UES Inc., Dayton, Ohio, 45432, USA

    Robert Wheeler

  4. Universal Technology Corporation, Dayton, Ohio, 45432, USA

    Vikas Varshney

  5. Department of Chemical Engineering, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, 44106, USA

    Feng Du & Liming Dai

Authors
  1. Sabyasachi Ganguli
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  2. Ajit K. Roy
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  4. Vikas Varshney
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  5. Feng Du
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  6. Liming Dai
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Correspondence to Sabyasachi Ganguli.

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Supplementary Material

Supplementary material can be viewed in this issue of the Journal of Materials Research by visiting http://journals.cambridge.org/jmr.

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Ganguli, S., Roy, A.K., Wheeler, R. et al. Superior thermal interface via vertically aligned carbon nanotubes grown on graphite foils. Journal of Materials Research 28, 933–939 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.401

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/jmr.2012.401

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