Copper Wires get Cool with Graphene

MIT Technology Review reported that researchers are experimenting with graphene to solve a growing problem with computer processors: overheating.

According to the report:

A potential solution to this interconnect fever has been found in the form of graphene, an exotic material made from single-atom-thick sheets of carbon that is a superlative conductor of both electrons and heat.

Alexander Balandin of the University of California, Riverside said:

[T]hat the graphene itself doesn’t seem to conduct the heat away. Rather, it alters the structure of the copper, improving the metal’s conductive properties. Heat moving through copper is usually slowed by the crystalline structure of the metal. Graphene changes this structure, causing those walls to move farther apart, and allowing heat to flow more readily.

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