Globular Flower-Like Reduced Graphene Oxide Design for Enhancing Thermally Conductive Properties of Silicone-Based Spherical Alumina Composites
Weijie Liang,
Tiehu Li,
Xiaocong Zhou,
Xin Ge,
Xunjun Chen,
Zehua Lin,
Xiaoyan Pang,
Jianfang Ge
Affiliations
Weijie Liang
Shaanxi Engineering Laboratory for Graphene New Carbon Materials and Applications, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Tiehu Li
Shaanxi Engineering Laboratory for Graphene New Carbon Materials and Applications, School of Materials Science and Engineering, Northwestern Polytechnical University, Xi’an 710072, China
Xiaocong Zhou
Guangdong Engineering Research Center of Silicone Electronic Fine Chemicals, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China
Xin Ge
School of Materials and Energy, Guangdong University of Technology, Guangzhou 510006, China
Xunjun Chen
Guangdong Engineering Research Center of Silicone Electronic Fine Chemicals, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China
Zehua Lin
Guangdong Engineering Research Center of Silicone Electronic Fine Chemicals, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China
Xiaoyan Pang
Guangdong Engineering Research Center of Silicone Electronic Fine Chemicals, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China
Jianfang Ge
Guangdong Engineering Research Center of Silicone Electronic Fine Chemicals, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Zhongkai University of Agriculture and Engineering, Guangzhou 510225, China
The enhancement of thermally conductive performances for lightweight thermal interface materials is a long-term effort. The superb micro-structures of the thermal conductivity enhancer have an important impact on increasing thermal conductivity and decreasing thermal resistance. Here, globular flower-like reduced graphene oxide (GFRGO) is designed by the self-assembly of reduced graphene oxide (RGO) sheets, under the assistance of a binder via the spray-assisted method for silicone-based spherical alumina (S-Al2O3) composites. When the total filler content is fixed at 84 wt%, silicone-based S-Al2O3 composites with 1 wt% of GFRGO exhibit a much more significant increase in thermal conductivity, reduction in thermal resistance and reinforcement in thermal management capability than that of without graphene. Meanwhile, GFRGO is obviously superior to that of their RGO counterparts. Compared with RGO sheets, GFRGO spheres which are well-distributed between the S-Al2O3 fillers and well-dispersed in the matrix can build three-dimensional and isotropic thermally conductive networks more effectively with S-Al2O3 in the matrix, and this minimizes the thermal boundary resistance among components, owning to its structural characteristics. As with RGO, the introduction of GFRGO is helpful when decreasing the density of silicone-based S-Al2O3 composites. These attractive results suggest that the strategy opens new opportunities for fabricating practical, high-performance and light-weight filler-type thermal interface materials.
