Significant enhancement of metal heat dissipation from mechanically exfoliated graphene nanosheets through thermal radiation effect

We demonstrate a facile approach to significantly enhance the heat dissipation potential of conventional aluminum (Al) heat sinks by mechanically coating graphene nanosheets. For Al and graphene-coated Al heat sinks, the change in temperature with change in coating coverage, coating thickness and heat flux are studied. It is found that with the increase in coating coverage from 0 to 100%, the steady-state temperature is decreased by 5 °C at a heat flux of 1.8 W cm-1. By increasing the average thickness of graphene coating from 480 nm to 1900 nm, a remarkable temperature reduction up to 7 °C can be observed. Moreover, with the increase in heat flux from 1.2 W cm-1 to 2.4 W cm-1, the temperature difference between uncoated and graphene-coated samples increases from 1 °C to 6 °C. The thermal analysis and finite element simulation reveal that the thermal radiation plays a key role in enhancing the heat dissipation performance. The effect of heat convection remains weak owing to the low air velocity at surface-air boundary. This work provides a technological innovation in improving metal heat dissipation using graphene nanosheets.