Fabrication of copper powder hybrid supported fillers with interconnected 1D/2D/3D nanostructures for enhanced thermal interface materials properties

Due to the increasing demand for high-power density of electronic devices, the technological enhancement of thermal interface materials (TIMs) is of crucial importance for further advancement of the issue of thermal management. Graphene displayed a huge possibility for the advancement of thermal interface materials because of its extreme, high thermal conductivity. Modest quantities of 2D (two-dimensional) graphene sheets are typically mixed into a polymer matrix to manufacture the nanocomposites with enhanced functional or mechanical properties. A simplistic and useful method to bond a few-layer graphite (AFLG) and AgNWs with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), print on the high thermal conductivity three-dimensional (3D) structure fiber with different ratios of Cu powder, the corresponding composite with the improvement of thermal conductivity is made. The thermal conductivity of composites with 20 wt% AFLG and AgNWs at 2.0 mg/mL displays an increase when the Cu particles loading of 2.5 to 7.5 wt% adding. The effect is attributed to the intercalation of spherical copper particles between other fillers that come out of the formation of the percolation network with high thermal conductivity. Thermal conductivity of through-plane (KZ) 5.96 W/mK and in-plane (Kx) 41.7 W/mK are achieved in composites with 7.5 wt% copper particle loading. Consequently, the process in this study endows these nanocomposites with high thermal conductivity. Besides, the proposed nanostructure-tailored nanocomposites are promising for surface variations with time during heating and cooling. The results brightly show the interaction between the Cu particles and above fillers in the nanocomposites and demonstrate the potential of the hybrid nanocomposites in the field of TIMs for practical applications. The novelty and contribution of this study integrate the comprehensive benefits of AgNWs, Cu, and PDMS that lie in the low-cost fabrication method via the interconnection of 1D/2D/3D nanostructures based on hybrid supported fillers for enhanced thermal interface to fabricated thermal interface materials with new architectures. The ball-milled-structured Cu powder is added to 2D-structured AFLG and enhanced the in-plane thermal conductivity by about 2 times. The through-plane thermal conductivity was enhanced by about 1.18 times. The multiple fillers structure not only brings the process easier to achieve but is also environmentally friendly in the era of a highly polluted world.