Graphene thermal conductivity - introduction and latest news
Graphene thermal conductivity
Thermal transport in graphene is a thriving area of research, thanks to graphene's extraordinary heat conductivity properties and its potential for use in thermal management applications.
The measured thermal conductivity of graphene is in the range 3000 - 5000 W/mK at room temperature, an exceptional figure compared with the thermal conductivity of pyrolytic graphite of approximately 2000 W/mK at room temperature. There are, however, other researches that estimate that this number is exaggerated, and that the in-plane thermal conductivity of graphene at room temperature is about 2000-4000 W/mK for freely suspended samples. This number is still among the highest of any known material.
Graphene is considered an excellent heat conductor, and several studies have found that its thermal conductivity keeps rising with the size of the sample rather than leveling off, contradicting the law of thermal conduction (Fourier's law) in the micrometer scale. In both computer simulations and experiments, the researchers found that the larger the segment of graphene, the more heat it could transfer, with no saturation observed even in suspended samples up to 9 micrometers long. If this trend continued indefinitely, graphene's thermal conductivity would in theory have no upper bound — though that remains unconfirmed at larger, more practical scales.
The thermal conductivity increases logarithmically, and researchers believe that this might be due to the stable bonding pattern as well as being a 2D material. As graphene is considerably more resistant to tearing than steel and is also lightweight and flexible, its conductivity could have some attractive real-world applications.
But what exactly is thermal conductivity?
Heat conduction (or thermal conduction) is the movement of heat from one object to another, that has a different temperature, through physical contact. Heat can be transferred in three ways: conduction, convection and radiation. Heat conduction is very common and can easily be found in our everyday activities - like warming a person's hand on a hot-water bottle, and more. Heat flows from the object with the higher temperature to the colder one.
Thermal transfer takes place at the molecular level, when heat energy is absorbed by a surface and causes microscopic collisions of particles and movement of electrons within that body. In the process, they collide with each other and transfer the energy to their neighbor, a process that will go on as long as heat is being added.
The process of heat conduction mainly depends on the temperature gradient (the temperature difference between the bodies), the path length and the properties of the materials involved. Not all substances are good heat conductors - metals, for example, are considered good conductors as they quickly transfer heat, but materials like wood or paper are viewed as poor conductors of heat. Materials that are poor conductors of heat are referred to as insulators.
How can graphene's exciting thermal conduction properties be put to use?
Some of the potential applications for graphene-enabled thermal management include electronics, which could greatly benefit from graphene's ability to dissipate heat and optimize electronic function. In micro- and nano-electronics, heat is often a limiting factor for smaller and more efficient components. Therefore, graphene and similar materials with exceptional thermal conductivity may hold an enormous potential for this kind of applications.
Graphene's heat conductivity can be used in many ways, including thermal interface materials (TIM), heat spreaders, thermal greases (thin layers usually between a heat source such as a microprocessor and a heat sink), graphene-based nanocomposites, and more.
Siroca's graphene-coated personal heater warms up in three seconds
Japanese appliance maker Siroca will launch a graphene-coated personal space heater, the "Sumipoka" (model SH-GC251), on October 16, priced at ¥13,860 (about US$88). The compact heater uses a graphene coating on its heating element to generate warmth within three seconds of being switched on, combining the material's far-infrared emission with fan-assisted airflow to warm the body rather than just the surrounding air.
The heater is designed for small, enclosed spaces - bathrooms, dressing rooms, room corners, under desks - where instant, targeted heat matters more than warming a whole room. A "Yobi-atatame" pre-warm mode runs at high power for the first 30 minutes before automatically dropping to low power, while an "Omakase" auto mode shuts the unit off once the room passes 23°C and restarts it when the temperature falls back below that threshold, aimed at reducing energy use during extended operation. Siroca also built in tip-over and vibration detection, plus overheat detection that shuts the unit down if airflow is blocked, such as by a cloth draped over the heater.
New graphene fiber conducts heat better than copper while matching top carbon fiber strength
Researchers at Zhejiang University have developed a wet-spinning process that produces graphene fibers combining exceptional tensile strength with high thermal conductivity, addressing a long-standing trade-off between the two properties.
The team dispersed graphene oxide sheets in glycerol, a highly viscous solvent that gives the dispersion polymer-like viscoelastic behavior. That viscosity allowed the fibers to be stretched, or drawn, to a much higher ratio during wet spinning than previous methods have achieved, up to 11 times their original length. The ultrahigh-ratio drawing aligns the graphene oxide sheets closely along the fiber axis and compresses out internal voids and defects that have limited earlier graphene fibers. A subsequent high-temperature annealing step then grows large, aligned graphitic crystallites through the densely packed structure.
Haydale reports 28% thermal conductivity gain for graphene cooling fluid
Haydale has reported progress in commercializing its Super-Efficient Thermal Transfer Fluid, a graphene-based additive for glycol coolants used in data-center cooling systems, since launching the product last October.
The company said the additive increases the thermal conductivity of inhibited glycol by approximately 28%, bringing its thermal performance in line with pure water while retaining the freeze and corrosion protection of glycol-based coolants.
nanoSkunkWorkX raises $2 million to bring graphene-copper films to AI chip packaging
Malaysian deep tech startup nanoSkunkWorkX (nSWX) has raised US$2 million in seed funding led by Singapore's Tin Men Capital, its first investment in a Malaysian startup, to advance a graphene-copper thin-film technology aimed at improving heat and current management inside AI chip packaging.
nSWX's lead product, nSD-I, is a thin-film interface designed to help copper interconnects carry more current and spread heat more effectively without replacing copper itself or requiring changes to existing manufacturing equipment and processes. The company says peer-reviewed testing found its graphene-copper films moved heat across their surface more than twice as effectively as a plain copper baseline, and that follow-up testing showed the performance advantage held up after the material was used in pre-qualification components.
Smart High Tech secures $10.5 million from Henkel Ventures to scale graphene cooling material
Smart High Tech (SHT) has raised approximately SEK 102.4 million (about $10.5 million) through a directed share issue, with Henkel Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of Henkel, taking around 71% of the issue and becoming a strategic investor in the company behind GT-TIM, a patented graphene-enhanced thermal interface material for cooling electronics. Henkel Ventures accounted for about 71% of the new shares issued, with the rest taken up by 17 existing SHT shareholders. Once the deal closes, Henkel Ventures will own roughly 9% of the company.
SHT says the proceeds will fund production capacity expansion and efficiency improvements at its manufacturing sites in Gothenburg, Sweden and Shanghai, China, along with working capital to support operational scale-up, and will also go toward repaying roughly SEK 27.9 million in shareholder loans.
Midea showcases SpaceMaster built-in oven with graphene heating
Midea, a global producer of smart home and lifestyle solutions, has showcased its SpaceMaster Series built-in oven at the IFA 2026 event, built around a graphene-based heating system the company calls Graphene Turbo Hot Air, which is designed for rapid thermal response and supports cooking temperatures of up to 350°C.
The Graphene Turbo Hot Air system uses graphene heating tubes that Midea says deliver a thermal response time of as little as 0.2 seconds, though the company notes that figure describes the heating system's own response rather than the time needed for the full oven cavity to reach 350°C. The higher temperature ceiling is intended to support cooking methods that benefit from short bursts of more intense heat, while the faster-responding heating elements are meant to give more responsive heat delivery and finer temperature control than a conventional built-in oven.
GMG launches G FLUID, a graphene-based coolant additive for data center cooling systems
Graphene Manufacturing Group (GMG) has launched G FLUID™, a patent-pending graphene water-based additive designed to improve heat transfer and curb microbial growth in data center and industrial cooling circuits. The product is sold as a 1-liter concentrate dosed at a 1:100 ratio into existing coolant loops, and targets the cooling water treatment chemicals market.
In preliminary internal testing, dosing demineralized water with G FLUID™ at 1%, providing 0.01% graphene by weight in the final solution, increased heat transfer by approximately 20%. Independent third-party laboratory testing to the EN 1276 standard found the same dosing reduced microbial growth by up to 87%, a factor GMG says matters for operators managing corrosion, fouling and maintenance costs in chiller systems.
Graphene oxide-bridged carbon fiber skeleton delivers 41-fold thermal conductivity boost for electronics cooling
Researchers from the Institute of Metal Research (Chinese Academy of Sciences), the University of Science and Technology of China, and Xi'an Rare Metal Materials Institute Co., Ltd. have developed a new thermal interface material (TIM) that combines high thermal conductivity with the compressibility needed to fill microscopic air gaps between heat-generating components and heat sinks - a combination that has been difficult to achieve in a single material.
The team built a vertically oriented, porous skeleton from short pitch-based carbon fibers (CFs), which have an exceptional axial thermal conductivity of 900 W/m·K, and bridged the individual fibers together using a small amount of graphene oxide (GO). "Graphene oxide acts as an inorganic adhesive," said Dr. Han Wang, co-corresponding author of the study. "It effectively bonds individual carbon fibers together through π–π interactions, creating continuous thermal transport pathways while significantly reducing interfacial thermal resistance. This is a key advantage over traditional polymer binders like cellulose, which hinder heat flow."
Haydale launches JustHeat Pro platform for commercial estates
Haydale has launched JustHeat Pro, a new B2B platform designed to help commercial and public‑sector estates cut emissions, control energy costs and reduce exposure to fossil‑fuel volatility. JustHeat Pro addresses the challenge of moving away from gas‑linked heating by combining Haydale’s graphene‑enabled electric underfloor heating technology with a full end‑to‑end delivery framework.
The platform integrates design and specification, heat‑load calculations, CAD layouts, installation support, commissioning, installer training, Measurement & Verification, and managed project delivery, giving clients a structured route to implement electric heating at scale.
Introducing LTDF-graphene and three target applications: critical minerals, rare-earth-free magnets and cooler power electronics
US-based Avadain has developed a novel graphene type, which it brands as Large, Thin, Defect-Free (LTDF) graphene, which is meant to position graphene around high value applications, including three strategic use cases: reducing dependence on foreign-sourced critical minerals, strengthening rare-earth-free iron nitride (Fe₂₁₆N₂) permanent magnets, and improving heat dissipation in high-power electronics.
LTDF graphene, SEM image
Why LTDF graphene's physics are different
Avadain says that graphene's performance ceiling is set by three parameters acting together: flake size, layer count and defect density. Most commercial graphene falls short on at least one of these, which is why products marketed as "graphene" often behave more like graphite or amorphous carbon in practice.
Large Surface Area: Every flake boundary acts as a scattering point for electrons, phonons and mechanical load, so larger, continuous flakes translate into fewer interruptions and performance closer to graphene's intrinsic limits. Graphene nanoparticles sit at the opposite end of that spectrum: Avadain says its LTDF flakes run in the 25-100+ µm² range, roughly five orders of magnitude larger than the sub-micron nanoparticles sold by many graphene producers, which tend to clump and form discontinuous conductive pathways.
