2025: Electronics will be protected from overheating by graphene and copper composite nanomaterials synthesized in plasma
Scientists obtained composite nanoparticles based on graphene and copper using plasma-chemical synthesis. This is a simple and easily scalable approach in which the original compounds form composite structures in a plasma jet. The proposed synthesis method can be used in the production of heat exchange systems that protect electronic devices from overheating, since graphene and copper composites are lighter, stronger, and also have higher thermal conductivity compared to the alternative - frequent copper. This was announced by the Russian Scientific Foundation (RNF) on March 4, 2025.
The power of electronic devices is growing every year, which is why technology - from ordinary smartphones to electric motors - can overheat. To prevent this from happening, copper heat sinks are used - elements that distribute heat and accelerate its dissipation into the environment. However, the existing copper heatsinks are heavy and expensive, which is why their use is limited. An alternative may be composite materials consisting of, for example, copper and graphene nanoparticles.
There are a large number of methods for the synthesis of metal-graphene nanoparticles, one of which is plasma-chemical synthesis. This simple method consists in the fact that the original components of the composite interact when moving in a plasma jet, as a result of which nanometer-sized particles are formed, the core of which consists of metal and the shell of which consists of a graphene sheet. Such composites are good in that they combine the properties of the metal - for example, high heat and electrical conductivity - as well as the strength and lightness of graphene.
Scientists from the Institute of Metal Superplasticity Problems of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Ufa) and the Joint Institute of High Temperatures of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow) obtained composite particles based on copper and graphene by the plasma-chemical method and studied their structure. To obtain plasma, we used a pure copper electric arc torch plasmatron. When generating a plasma flux, nanoscale copper particles (1 to 100 nanometers in size) were separated from the copper electrode. The plasma jet was formed in a mixture of two gases - propane and butane, thanks to which the synthesis of single-layer graphene flakes took place. Copper-graphene composite structures were formed when copper nanoparticles collided with single-layer graphene sheets. The authors studied the obtained structures using several methods of microstructural and X-ray diffraction analyses, which allow determining the features of the crystalline structure of the substance.
In addition, in order to investigate the mechanisms of synthesis of composite particles of different morphologies in a plasma jet, scientists conducted simulations using the method of molecular dynamics. The authors set in the model different directions and speeds of movement of copper nanoparticles (from 0.5 to 9 kilometers per second). Scientists have found that at relatively low nanoparticle speeds (less than 1 kilometer per second), copper, colliding with a graphene scale, attaches to it; at average speeds (from 1 to 5 kilometers per second) - "turns" into graphene, exactly in a candy wrapper; and at high speeds (more than 7 kilometers per second) - breaks the graphene sheet, flying through it. Thus, understanding how copper-graphene nanoparticles were obtained during the experiment makes it possible to achieve a more advanced morphology of the composite during its synthesis in a plasma jet. Although this is far from an easy task for the future.
 | The proposed synthesis method is promising, since it allows a fairly simple way to obtain a composite that can replace pure copper, primarily in the field of microelectronics and heat exchange systems used in the oil refining, petrochemical, nuclear industry and power. In the future, we plan to study the physical and mechanical properties of such copper-graphene composites. With the help of atomistic modeling, we predicted high strength properties of such materials, which will undoubtedly expand the field of application of new copper-graphene composites synthesized in a plasma jet, "said Karina Krylova, candidate of physical and mathematical sciences, senior researcher at the youth laboratory" Physics and Mechanics of Carbon Nanomaterials "Institute of Superplasticity of Metals of the Russian Academy of Sciences. |  |
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