Phenylamine-Functionalized Graphene–Copper\nComposites with High Thermal Conductivity: Implications for Thermal\nDissipation

Abstract

Developing\nhighly efficient thermal management techniques is crucial\nin order to achieve the best performance of electronic equipment.\nHere, a delocalized conjugated system was established by the conjugation\nof sp² orbitals in phenylamine groups and a delocalized\nbig π bond in graphene to construct an electron thermal conduction\nroute. Then, the abundant π electrons in graphene can be transferred\nto the adjacent copper unimpededly, leading to a remarkable thermal\nconductivity. These results\ndemonstrate that the copper substrate deposited with phenylamine-functionalized\ngraphene (PA–Gr–Cu) shows a high thermal conductivity\nof 506 W m^–1 k^–1, which is 30.8\nand 44.2% higher than those of the pristine graphene–copper\ncomposite (Gr–Cu) and copper (Cu), respectively. Placed on\na heat source heated from 30 to 210 °C within 5 min, the top\nsurface temperature of PA–Gr–Cu increases to 198 °C\nrapidly, whereas those of Gr–Cu and Cu only increase gently\nto 88 and 59 °C. This work demonstrates that phenylamine with\na pair of lone electrons in the N atom shows superiority as an intermediate\nmolecule to link graphene and copper to establish a delocalized conjugated\nsystem. This innovation provides another solution to establish a conjugated\nstructure between graphene and copper to construct an electron thermal\nconduction route with remarkable thermal conduction properties and\nwill promote the research on the electron thermal conduction route\nfor graphene-based metal matrix composites in the application of thermal\ndissipation.