Bispyrene Functionalization Drives Self-Assembly of Graphite Nanoplates into Highly Efficient Heat Spreader Foils

Thermally conductive nanopapers fabricated from graphene and related materials are currently showing great potential in thermal management applications. However, contacts between plates represent the bottleneck for conductivity of prepared absence a high temperature step graphitization. In this work, problem ineffective is addressed by use bifunctional polyaromatic molecules designed to drive self-assembly graphite nanoplates (GnP) establish bridges them. To preserve associated defect-free sp2 structure, non-covalent functionalization with bispyrene compounds, synthesized on purpose variable tethering chain length, was exploited. Pyrene terminal groups granted strong ?–? interaction surface, as demonstrated UV–Vis, fluorescence, Raman spectroscopies. Bispyrene molecular junctions GnP were found control organization orientation within nanopaper, delivering significant enhancement both in-plane cross-plane diffusivities. Finally, validated heat spreader devices electronic components, evidencing comparable or better dissipation performance than conventional Cu foil, while over 90% weight reduction.