Graphene, a novel material exhibiting the highest thermal conductivity, has attracted attention as a filler for next-generation heat-dissipating composite materials. However, the thermal conductivity of manufactured composites has been found to be lower than expected. To address this issue, a Jeonbuk National University (JBNU) undergraduate student has demonstrated that increasing the graphene content can raise the thermal conductivity of composites, drawing widespread attention.

The person at the center of the story is So Sun-o, a fourth-year student in the Department of Organic Materials and Fiber Engineering at JBNU, advised by Professor Kim Seong-ryun. So recently published a paper reporting these results, "Enhanced thermal conductivity of graphene nanoplatelet filled polymer composite based on thermal percolation behavior," in the SCI-level international journal Composites Communications (IF: 6.617). The study includes Jang Ji-woon, a doctoral student in Hanyang University's Department of Organic Nano Engineering, supervised by Professor Kim Seong-hoon, as a co-author.

Having spent two years as an undergraduate researcher in JBNU's composite materials design laboratory, the student concentrated on reducing interfacial thermal resistance (ITR), a factor that reduces thermal conductivity in composites, and devoted themselves to the research.

To reduce thermal resistance in the composites, the student focused on the novel material graphene and, through various experiments, demonstrated that incorporating a high content of graphene reduces thermal resistance and thereby increases the thermal conductivity of the composites.

The thermal conductivity of the investigated composites was analyzed by applying Nan's model and the percolation model to the regions before and after percolation, respectively.

So Sun-o said, "Over the two years as an undergraduate researcher I have grown to some extent as a researcher, and I am pleased to have published a good paper. I am grateful to my advisor Professor Kim Seong-ryun, to Dr. Jang Ji-woon for assisting with the research, and to my parents for believing in and supporting the career path I chose."

Professor Kim Seong-ryun, the student's advisor, remarked, "It seems that, as I planned and pledged when I was first appointed as a professor, our department's undergraduate research mentorship program has come into its own. I would like to commend So Sun-o for their efforts in balancing undergraduate studies and laboratory work over the past two years and for producing excellent research outcomes."

Meanwhile, this research was supported by the National Research Foundation of Korea's Mid-Career Research Program (No. 2021R1A2C1093839).