Known to possess many extraordinary properties, graphene is deemed to be the new millennium's wonder material. In a new analysis, a team of researchers from Rice University discovered that three-dimensional white graphene structures can diversify gadget cooling.

Like Us on Facebook

Graphene, an allotrope of carbon in the form of a two-dimensional, atomic-scale, hexagonal lattice in which one atom forms each vertex, conducts heat and electricity with great efficiency. By weight, it is almost 200 times stronger than steel and the basic structural element of other allotropes such as graphite, charcoal, carbon nanotubes and fullerenes. Though they can be noisy and use up power, a 3D form could help cool small electronic devices by itself, Gizmodo has learned.

With an objective to investigate how its natural heat conduction properties could be exploited in 3D arrangements, Rice University researchers conducted simulations of heat flows through a white graphene, a 3D structure made of boron nitride. And while normal graphene structures exhibit thermal limitations, its 3D structure overcome them and allowed unrestricted heat transfer in all directions, Engadget revealed.

"Given the insulating properties of boron nitride, they can enable and complement the creation of 3-D, graphene-based nanoelectronics," Rice University assistant professor Rouzbeh Shahsavari said.

In 3D white graphene structures, heat will always have a preference for flowing in a certain direction but flow in the other direction will be slower, Sentinel Republic noted. And this level of control possibly lead to thermal switches or rectifiers that can create a preferred direction for the heat to flow, making it less likely to flow backwards, to the source.

Meanwhile, 2D boron nitride appears just like regular graphene. However, there's one big difference -boron nitride is an insulator, which means it does not conduct electricity. Graphene, on the other hand, is a super-efficient conductor itself.

Since white graphene conducts heat, engineers could build electronics that would route heat out and away from key components, even through various layers of material, Fortune reported.

Often viewed by experts as a miracle material, graphene may eventually become a replacement for silicon as the foundation of electronics because of its electrical conductive qualities. And with 3D white graphene, it could revolutionize gadget cooling.

TagsGraphene, 3D White Graphene, Gadget Cooling