Anritsu Discovers New Thermal Conductivity Properties of Promising Carbon Material "Graphene"
Anritsu Corporation's Advanced Technology Research Laboratory has discovered that nanoscale mesh-like graphene exhibits higher thermal conductivity at room temperature as it is miniaturized, contradicting conventional wisdom. This breakthrough in thermal management technology is expected to be applied to heat dissipation in next-generation electronic devices. The paper was published in '2D Materials'.
📋 Article Processing Timeline
- 📰 Published: March 30, 2026 at 20:20
- 🔍 Collected: March 30, 2026 at 22:56 (2h 36m after Published)
- 🤖 AI Analyzed: April 24, 2026 at 06:19 (583h 23m after Collected)
Anritsu Corporation (President: Hirokazu Hamada) has discovered that nanoscale mesh-like graphene exhibits thermal conductivity properties at room temperature that defy conventional wisdom. The discovery was made by Anritsu's Advanced Technology Research Laboratory, and a paper summarizing the results of this research has been published in the international scientific journal "2D Materials".
https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ae525a
While smartphones, 5G devices, and personal computers are becoming smaller and more high-performance, they face the issue of heat easily building up inside. Therefore, heat dissipation technology is essential for the future evolution of electronic devices. Graphene, which efficiently dissipates heat, is extremely thin, light, and flexible, drawing attention as a heat dissipation material.
This discovery confirms that it is promising not only for dissipating heat but also for thermal management that controls the direction of heat dissipation. These characteristics are expected to be applied in the development of various fields such as next-generation electronics, energy, communications, and medicine.
## What is Graphene?
Graphene is a sheet of carbon atoms bonded in a honeycomb lattice. Graphite, which is also used in pencil lead, is formed by layered graphene. Because it is only one atom thick, it is extremely thin and lightweight, yet possesses incredibly high strength and flexibility.
Due to its high crystallinity, it is known to conduct heat extremely well. For example, among metals, silver has the best thermal conductivity, but graphene exhibits a thermal conductivity approximately 10 times higher than silver.
## Mechanism of Mesh-like Graphene
In this study, Anritsu attempted to control the thermal conductivity characteristics by creating a regular structure on this graphene at an extremely small scale called nanometers.
Normally, miniaturizing a structure reduces thermal conductivity. Indeed, for ribbon-shaped graphene, the narrower the width, the harder it is for heat to transfer.
On the other hand, it was found that the thermal conductivity of mesh-like graphene actually increases with miniaturization. This is thought to be the result of heat flows overlapping like waves and reinforcing each other by miniaturizing it into a mesh shape. Such a phenomenon has previously only been seen at cryogenic temperatures approaching -273°C, so the fact that it was confirmed at room temperature is also a major achievement.
At the same time, it was shown that thermal conductivity can be changed by adjusting the width of the graphene, suggesting the possibility of controlling heat flow by changing the structure depending on the location within a graphene element.
By applying this technology, it is expected that heat flow control mechanisms based on completely new mechanisms can be designed.
https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-1583/ae525a
While smartphones, 5G devices, and personal computers are becoming smaller and more high-performance, they face the issue of heat easily building up inside. Therefore, heat dissipation technology is essential for the future evolution of electronic devices. Graphene, which efficiently dissipates heat, is extremely thin, light, and flexible, drawing attention as a heat dissipation material.
This discovery confirms that it is promising not only for dissipating heat but also for thermal management that controls the direction of heat dissipation. These characteristics are expected to be applied in the development of various fields such as next-generation electronics, energy, communications, and medicine.
## What is Graphene?
Graphene is a sheet of carbon atoms bonded in a honeycomb lattice. Graphite, which is also used in pencil lead, is formed by layered graphene. Because it is only one atom thick, it is extremely thin and lightweight, yet possesses incredibly high strength and flexibility.
Due to its high crystallinity, it is known to conduct heat extremely well. For example, among metals, silver has the best thermal conductivity, but graphene exhibits a thermal conductivity approximately 10 times higher than silver.
## Mechanism of Mesh-like Graphene
In this study, Anritsu attempted to control the thermal conductivity characteristics by creating a regular structure on this graphene at an extremely small scale called nanometers.
Normally, miniaturizing a structure reduces thermal conductivity. Indeed, for ribbon-shaped graphene, the narrower the width, the harder it is for heat to transfer.
On the other hand, it was found that the thermal conductivity of mesh-like graphene actually increases with miniaturization. This is thought to be the result of heat flows overlapping like waves and reinforcing each other by miniaturizing it into a mesh shape. Such a phenomenon has previously only been seen at cryogenic temperatures approaching -273°C, so the fact that it was confirmed at room temperature is also a major achievement.
At the same time, it was shown that thermal conductivity can be changed by adjusting the width of the graphene, suggesting the possibility of controlling heat flow by changing the structure depending on the location within a graphene element.
By applying this technology, it is expected that heat flow control mechanisms based on completely new mechanisms can be designed.