Highly efficient and responsive thin heaters based on CVD graphene/polyetherimide nanolaminates for next-gen thermal management applications
Christos Pavlou (University of Patras, TU Delft - Electrical Engineering, Mathematics and Computer Science, FORTH)
Maria Giovanna Pastore Carbone (FORTH, University of Patras)
Anastasios Manikas (University of Patras, FORTH)
Christos Tsakonas (FORTH)
Nikolaos Koutroumanis (FORTH)
Costas Galiotis (FORTH, University of Patras)
More Info
expand_more
Other than for strictly personal use, it is not permitted to download, forward or distribute the text or part of it, without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), unless the work is under an open content license such as Creative Commons.
Abstract
Graphene, with its superior physical properties, has been considered as the perfect candidate for the production of lightweight, high-strength composite materials with interesting multi-functionalities. The use of large-sized, high-quality CVD graphene monolayers alternated to ultra-thin polymer films in a laminate configuration has been recently proposed as an efficient route to overcome many of the limitations faced by the use of discontinuous sheets of graphene in nanocomposites. Here we report on the production of CVD graphene/polyetherimide (Gr/PEI) nanolaminates with very low graphene volume fractions (up to 0.165 vol%), using a modified iterative and automatic lift-off/float-on procedure. The produced freestanding Gr/PEI nanolaminates present not only a significant enhancement of mechanical and electrical properties but, very interestingly, show impressive Joule heating efficiency. In fact, upon the application of an electrical potential, they can reach temperatures higher than 250 °C, with heating rates up to 325 °C/s. The produced heaters show a very uniform distribution of the temperature even when bend and are characterized by low power consumptions (up to 16 Watt) and high areal power densities (up to ca. ∼1.28 W/cm2), thus suggesting their possible application in thermal management.