Cool graphene breakthrough could keep laptops from overheating

Superthin material can be reworked to boost its thermal properties, according to NSF/DARPA-funded research

Graphene is starting to sound like a potential  wonder material for the electronics business.

In the latest research that portends big things for this super-thin material, researchers from the University of California at Riverside, the University of Texas at Dallas and Austin, and Xiamen University in China have come up with a way to engineer graphene so that it has much better thermal properties. Such an isotopically-engineered version of graphene could be used to build cooler-running laptops, wireless gear and other equipment. The need for such a material has grown as electronic devices have gotten more powerful but shrunk in size.

The researchers' work is outlined in the paper "Thermal conductivity of isotopically modified graphene," published by the journal Nature Materials.

"The important finding is the possibility of a strong enhancement of thermal conduction properties of isotopically pure graphene without substantial alteration of electrical, optical and other physical properties," says UC Riverside Professor of Electrical Engineering Alexander Balandin, in a statement. "Isotopically pure graphene can become an excellent choice for many practical applications provided that the cost of the material is kept under control."

Such a specially engineered type of graphene would likely first find its way into some chip packaging materials as well into photovoltaic solar cells and flexible displays, according to UC Riverside. Beyond that, it could be used with silicon in computer chips, for interconnect wiring to to spread heat.

Industry researchers have been making great strides on the graphene front in recent years. IBM, for example, last year said it had created the first graphene-based integrated circuit.

Separately, two Nobel Prize winning scientists out of the U.K. have come up with a new way to use graphene – the thinnest material in the world – that could make Internet pipes feel a lot fatter.

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