Linux Journal's "Future New Products" desk is reporting on a new development out of Sweden's Chalmers University of Technology: a graphene-based film for efficiently cooling electronics that is attachable to components made of silicon. The graphene film has a thermal conductivity capacity that is four times that of copper. Until recently, the methods in place for utilizing graphene for cooling have proven problematic, such as with adhesiveness, when presented with high amounts of heat. This advancement at Chalmers involves the creation of strong covalent bonds between the graphene film and the silicon surface through the addition of property-altering (3-Aminopropyl) triethoxysilane (APTES) molecules. Moreover, functionalization using silane coupling doubles the thermal conductivity of the graphene. While copper has a thermal conductivity value of 401 W/mK, the Chalmers graphene-based solution boasts 1600 W/mK. The results were recently published in the journal Advanced Functional Materials.
