Applying Aluminum–Vertically-Aligned Carbon Nanotube Forests Composites for Heat Dissipation

Abstract

Vertically-aligned carbon nanotube forests (VACNTs) with excellent axial heat dissipation properties were formed on aluminum foil to dissipate heat. In addition, the heat dissipation efficiency of aluminum–VACNTs composites in this work was compared with that of commercially available mainstream thermal sheets under the same natural cooling conditions. Chemical vapor deposition (CVD) was employed as a synthesis method using a three-segment high-temperature furnace. Subsequently, the temperature changes in a heating body with the aluminum–VACNTs composites was measured over time subject to natural cooling. In addition, the performance was compared with copper and pyrolytic graphite sheets. The experimental results revealed that the heat dissipation efficiency of the flexible aluminum–VACNTs composites was higher than that of clean aluminum foil, a copper sheet, and a pyrolytic graphite sheet by up to 56%, 40%, and 20%, respectively. Moreover, this work also verified the height of the carbon nanotube (CNT) did not influence the heat dissipation efficiency, indicating that the time cost of synthesis could be reduced.