Thermal Conductivity of Nanoparticle Suspensions

Different carbon based materials are among the materials known with highest thermal conductivity, including diamond, carbon nanotubes and graphene. High thermal conductivity is desirable when fast heat dissipation is required, as in electronics and computer industries to assist a heat sink drawing heat away from a semiconductor component such as an integrated circuit or transistor. Currently, heat conducting pastes are present in every computer as they improve the thermal conductivity by filling air gaps between highly conductive solid surfaces. Heat conducting pastes with carbon-based conductors, using diamond powder or short carbon fibres are commercially available and have higher thermal conductivity than metal or ceramic based heat conducting pastes, but their thermal conductivity orders of magnitude less conducting than pure diamond or graphene. It is believed that formulations containing diamond nanoparticles or graphene could improve the performance of heat conducting pastes, but efficient formulation requires better understanding on the factors that affect thermal conductivity at the nano-scale.

In this project, molecular dynamics simulations will be used to predict the thermal conductivity of formulated products containing diamond nanoparticles or graphene. The work is expected to provide some insight into this complex problem, and provide an opportunity to develop novel simulation approaches for complex problems.