Optimized exfoliation of Canadian natural graphite from the Albany deposit for production of thermally conducting graphene-based laminates

在安大略省西北部奥尔巴尼最近发现的热液矿床中，需要进行研究以优化高质量的加拿大天然石墨的剥落，特别强调其热性能。该矿床的卓越品质使其产品特别适合高附加值市场，其中石墨的高结晶度和低缺陷是至关重要的。大量使用天然石墨将对许多石墨产品的质量成本优化产生重大影响，包括电池、导热糊和散热器，因为到目前为止，许多此类市场只保留了合成生产的石墨材料。一直在开发奥尔巴尼矿床的禅雅塔风险投资有限公司（Zenyatta Ventures Ltd）已经确定，如果石墨被剥离成石墨烯薄片，几种产品的市场渗透率将大大提高。具体来说，石墨烯薄片（单层碳原子）和几层石墨烯（2-10层碳原子）的导热性明显高于厚石墨层。在这个项目中，禅雅塔将与加拿大西部大学碳基纳米材料研究主席Fanchini教授团队合作，他是一位在石墨烯层压板及其热性能方面经验丰富的学术研究人员。短期目标是深入了解并优化从奥尔巴尼石墨中剥离的石墨烯基薄片的结构-热性能关系。该项目的长期目标是证明，使用天然石墨，导热系数bbb10 + 2w /m/K，接近或超过最先进的金属散热器。如果成功，该项目将极大地提高albygraphite的市场竞争力，进而将大大增加安大略省西北部偏远地区的职业和经济前景，这些地区非常需要这种开发。

Research is required to optimize the exfoliation of high-quality Canadian natural graphite from the recentlydiscovered hydrothermal deposit in Albany, Northwestern Ontario, with special emphasis to its thermalproperties. The exceptional quality of this deposit makes its products uniquely suited for markets at high addedvalue, in which high crystallinity and low defectiveness of graphite are critical. Using massively availablenatural graphite will lead to significant impact in terms of quality-cost optimization in a number of graphiteproducts, including batteries, thermal pastes, and heat spreaders because, so far, many of such markets haveonly been reserved to synthetically produced graphitic materials. Zenyatta Ventures Ltd, the company that hasbeen developing the Albany deposit, has determined that the market penetration of several products will bedramatically enhanced if their graphite is exfoliated into graphene platelets. Specifically, platelets of graphene(a single-layer of carbon atoms) and few-layer graphene (2-10 layers of carbon atoms) possess a thermalconductivity that is significantly higher than thick graphitic stacks. In this project, Zenyatta will work inpartnership with the team of Prof. Fanchini, Canada Research Chair in Carbon based nanomaterials at WesternUniversity, an academic researchers experienced in graphene laminates and their thermal properties. Theshort-term objective is to gain insight into, and to optimize, the structure-thermal performance relationship ingraphene-based platelets exfoliated from Albany graphite. Long-term objective of the project is to demonstrate,using natural graphite, thermal conductivities >2 10+2 W/m/K, approaching or exceeding those of state-of-theart metallic heat spreaders. If successful, the project will dramatically enhance the marketability of Albanygraphite, which, on its turn will lead to a significant increase in occupational and economic perspectives for aremote area in Northwestern Ontario, in which such development is much needed.