Application of multi- walled carbon nanotube based liquids in heat dissipation for high- power light emitting diodes

Abstract

Carbon nanotubes (CNTs) is one of the valuable materials with high thermal conductivity. The thermal conductivity of single-walled carbon nanotubes is 2000 Wm-1K-1 as compared to the thermal conductivity of Ag as 419 Wm-1K-1. Carbon nanotube based liquids have shown many interesting properties and distinctive features offering the potential of heat dissipation applications for electronic devices such as central processing unit (CPU) of computer, high brightness light emitting diode (HB-LED), etc. In this work, a multiwalled carbon-nanotube-based liquid has been made by even dispersal of functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes in the ethylene glycol/distilled water (EG/DW) solution mixture by using Tween-80 surfactant and ultrasonication method. The successful functionalization of carbon nanotubes has been proven by Raman and FTIR spectral measurements. The dispersion of the CNTs in liquids has been evaluated by using Malvern Zetasizer Nano ZS instrument. The CNT-based liquids have been used as coolants in the heat dissipation system for several types of HB-LED light including 100 W streetlight and 450 Wflood light. The results have confirmed the advantages of CNTs in the heat dissipation system for HB-LED and other high-power electronic devices.