Carbon nanotubes for cool running

Carbon nanotubes may soon be integrated into ever-shrinking portable electronic gadgets to help ensure the equipment does not overheat, malfunction, or fail.

The chips inside an electronic device give off heat as a by-product of power consumption when the object is on or being used. To reduce high temperatures, heat sinks are attached to the back of the chips to draw thermal energy away from the microprocessor and transfer it into the surrounding air. Fans or fluids are sometimes used to improve the cooling process, but they increase the device weight, size, and bulk.

Using microfin structures made of aligned multi-walled carbon nanotube arrays mounted to the back of silicon chips, researchers from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute and the University of Oulu in Finland have proven that nanotubes can dissipate chip heat as effectively as copper — the best known, but most costly, material for thermal management applications. The nanotubes are also more flexible, resilient, and 10 times lighter than any other cooling material available.