Superior thermal transport properties of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes tailored through mesoscale architectures

Komal Chawla; Jizhe Cai; Dakotah Thompson; Ramathasan Thevamaran

doi:10.1016/j.carbon.2023.118526

Superior thermal transport properties of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes tailored through mesoscale architectures

Komal Chawla, Jizhe Cai, Dakotah Thompson, Ramathasan Thevamaran

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Thermal transport properties play a critical role in the performance of lightweight foams used as shock-absorbing layers in helmets, sports gear, and electronic packaging. We report superior tailored thermal properties achieved at lightweight in vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) foams by introducing mesoscale hexagonally close-packed cylindrical architecture. We measure thermal diffusivity (α) using a laser flash technique and specific heat capacity (C_p) by differential scanning calorimetry at varying temperatures from 25 °C to 200 °C from which we determine the thermal conductivity and the thermal resistance as functions of temperature. The architected VACNTs exhibit similar α and C_p as non-architected VACNTs but exhibit higher intrinsic thermal conductivity (k_i) and lower intrinsic thermal resistance (R_i) compared to the non-architected VACNTs. This improvement in k_i and R_i arises due to the higher intrinsic density of VACNTs achieved by exploiting a synthesis size effect—the geometrically confined CVD synthesis which leads to higher vertical alignment and number density of CNTs. The effective thermal conductivity k_eff of VACNT foams follows a desirable sub-linear scaling with the density—which is tailored by the architecture—in contrast to the higher order scaling observed in other materials. The superior thermal transport properties of architected VACNTs enable lightweight protective materials for extreme engineering applications.

Original language	English
Article number	118526
Journal	Carbon
Volume	216
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2023.118526
State	Published - Jan 5 2024
Externally published	Yes

Funding

This research is supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research under the PANTHER program award numbers N000142112044 and N000142112916 through Dr. Timothy Bentley. We acknowledge the use of facilities and instrumentation at the Wisconsin Centers for Nanoscale Technology (WCNT) partially supported by the NSF through the University of Wisconsin Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-1720415). We also acknowledge the use of LFA Micro flash at the Polymer Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin Madison. We thank Sabarinathan Pushparaj Subramanian for the LFA Micro Flash instrument support and Aishwarya Deshpande for her assistance in drilling micro-sized holes in copper sheets. This research is supported by the U.S. Office of Naval Research under the PANTHER program award numbers N000142112044 and N000142112916 through Dr. Timothy Bentley. We acknowledge the use of facilities and instrumentation at the Wisconsin Centers for Nanoscale Technology (WCNT) partially supported by the NSF through the University of Wisconsin Materials Research Science and Engineering Center (DMR-1720415). We also acknowledge the use of LFA Micro flash at the Polymer Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin Madison. We thank Sabarinathan Pushparaj Subramanian for the LFA Micro Flash instrument support and Aishwarya Deshpande for her assistance in drilling micro-sized holes in copper sheets.

Keywords

Architected materials
Carbon nanotube foams
Heat capacity
Thermal conductivity
Thermal diffusivity

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10.1016/j.carbon.2023.118526

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title = "Superior thermal transport properties of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes tailored through mesoscale architectures",

abstract = "Thermal transport properties play a critical role in the performance of lightweight foams used as shock-absorbing layers in helmets, sports gear, and electronic packaging. We report superior tailored thermal properties achieved at lightweight in vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) foams by introducing mesoscale hexagonally close-packed cylindrical architecture. We measure thermal diffusivity (α) using a laser flash technique and specific heat capacity (Cp) by differential scanning calorimetry at varying temperatures from 25 °C to 200 °C from which we determine the thermal conductivity and the thermal resistance as functions of temperature. The architected VACNTs exhibit similar α and Cp as non-architected VACNTs but exhibit higher intrinsic thermal conductivity (ki) and lower intrinsic thermal resistance (Ri) compared to the non-architected VACNTs. This improvement in ki and Ri arises due to the higher intrinsic density of VACNTs achieved by exploiting a synthesis size effect—the geometrically confined CVD synthesis which leads to higher vertical alignment and number density of CNTs. The effective thermal conductivity keff of VACNT foams follows a desirable sub-linear scaling with the density—which is tailored by the architecture—in contrast to the higher order scaling observed in other materials. The superior thermal transport properties of architected VACNTs enable lightweight protective materials for extreme engineering applications.",

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AB - Thermal transport properties play a critical role in the performance of lightweight foams used as shock-absorbing layers in helmets, sports gear, and electronic packaging. We report superior tailored thermal properties achieved at lightweight in vertically aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) foams by introducing mesoscale hexagonally close-packed cylindrical architecture. We measure thermal diffusivity (α) using a laser flash technique and specific heat capacity (Cp) by differential scanning calorimetry at varying temperatures from 25 °C to 200 °C from which we determine the thermal conductivity and the thermal resistance as functions of temperature. The architected VACNTs exhibit similar α and Cp as non-architected VACNTs but exhibit higher intrinsic thermal conductivity (ki) and lower intrinsic thermal resistance (Ri) compared to the non-architected VACNTs. This improvement in ki and Ri arises due to the higher intrinsic density of VACNTs achieved by exploiting a synthesis size effect—the geometrically confined CVD synthesis which leads to higher vertical alignment and number density of CNTs. The effective thermal conductivity keff of VACNT foams follows a desirable sub-linear scaling with the density—which is tailored by the architecture—in contrast to the higher order scaling observed in other materials. The superior thermal transport properties of architected VACNTs enable lightweight protective materials for extreme engineering applications.

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Superior thermal transport properties of vertically aligned carbon nanotubes tailored through mesoscale architectures

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