Preparation and characterization of the graphene-Cu composite film by electrodeposition process

•Composite electrodeposition embeds multilayer graphene into copper matrix.•Pulse power assisted by ultrasonic stirring can prepare smooth graphene-Cu composites.•The electrical and thermal properties of the composites do not decrease.•The mechanical properties of the composites improve remarkably.

Graphene has a high thermal conductivity, electrical conductivity and outstanding mechanical properties,which is considered as the good reinforcement material in the composites. In the reported literatures, graphene oxide was generally used as the precursor of reinforcement to electrodeposit the composite film, then followed by the reduction of graphene oxide to graphene. In this paper, the graphene-Cu composite film was directly electrodeposited from the electrolyte containing multilayer graphene nanosheets through pulse electrodeposition under ultrasonic stirring, which was compatible with MEMS process. The experimental results indicated that the graphene-Cu composite film in this study had much less defects density than that in the reported literature. Micromachining technology is used to test the thermal conductivity, electrical resistivity and mechanical property of the composite film. Compared to pure Cu film, the mechanical property of the graphene-Cu composite film was remarkably increased while the electrical property and thermal property were comparable.

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