Highly oriented humic acid films and highly conducting graphitic films derived therefrom and devices containing same

1. A highly oriented humic acid film, comprising multiple graphene sheets and humic acid (HA) or chemically functionalized humic acid (CHA) sheets that are chemically bonded or merged and are substantially parallel to one another, wherein said film has a thickness from 5 nm to 500 μm, a physical density no less than 1.3 g/cm 3 , hexagonal carbon planes with an inter-planar spacing d 002 of 0.4 nm to 1.3 nm as determined by X-ray diffraction, and a non-carbon element content or oxygen content lower than 5% by weight.

2. A highly conducting graphitic film derived from a highly oriented humic acid film, the highly oriented humic acid film comprising multiple graphene sheets and humic acid (HA) or chemically functionalized humic acid (CHA) sheets that are chemically bonded or merged and are substantially parallel to one another, wherein said film has a thickness from 5 nm to 500 μm, wherein said graphitic film is derived from the highly oriented humic acid film through a heat treatment, wherein said graphitic film has hexagonal carbon planes with an inter-planar spacing d 002 less than 0.4 nm and an oxygen content or non-carbon element content less than 2% by weight, a physical density no less than 1.9 g/cm 3 , an in-plane thermal conductivity greater than 600 W/mK, an in-plane electrical conductivity greater than 2,000 S/cm, a tensile strength greater than 20 MPa.

3. The highly oriented humic acid film of claim 1 , wherein said graphene sheets are parallel to said HA or CHA sheets, wherein a HA-to-graphene or CHA-to-graphene ratio is from 1/100 to 100/1 and said graphene is selected from pristine graphene, graphene oxide, reduced graphene oxide, graphene fluoride, graphene bromide, graphene iodide, boron-doped graphene, nitrogen-doped graphene, chemically functionalized graphene, or a combination thereof.

4. A highly conducting graphitic film derived from the highly oriented humic acid film of claim 3 through a heat treatment, wherein said graphitic film has hexagonal carbon planes with an inter-planar spacing d 002 less than 0.4 nm and an oxygen content or non-carbon element content less than 2% by weight, a physical density no less than 1.6 g/cm 3 , an in-plane thermal conductivity greater than 600 W/mK, an in-plane electrical conductivity greater than 2,000 S/cm, a tensile strength greater than 20 MPa.

5. The highly oriented humic acid film of claim 1 , further comprising a polymer wherein said HA or CHA sheets are dispersed in or bonded by said polymer.

6. The highly oriented humic acid film of claim 3 , further comprising a polymer wherein said HA or CHA sheets and graphene sheets are dispersed in or bonded by said polymer.

7. The highly oriented humic acid film of claim 1 , wherein said CHA contains a chemical functional group selected from a polymer, SO 3 H, COOH, NH 2 , OH, R′CHOH, CHO, CN, COCl, halide, COSH, SH, COOR′, SR′, SiR′ 3 , Si(—OR′—) y R′ 3 -y, Si(—O—SiR′ 2 —)OR′, R″, Li, AlR′ 2 , Hg—X, TlZ 2 and Mg—X; wherein y is an integer equal to or less than 3, R′ is hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, or aralkyl, cycloaryl, or poly(alkylether), R″ is fluoroalkyl, fluoroaryl, fluorocycloalkyl, fluoroaralkyl or cycloaryl, X is halide, and Z is carboxylate or trifluoroacetate, or a combination thereof.

8. The highly oriented humic acid film of claim 3 , wherein said graphene sheets contain chemically functionalized graphene containing a chemical functional group selected from a polymer, SO 3 H, COOH, NH 2 , OH, R′CHOH, CHO, CN, COCl, halide, COSH, SH, COOR′, SR′, SiR′ 3 , Si(—OR′—) y R′ 3 -y, Si(—O—SiR′ 2 —)OR′, R″, Li, AlR′ 2 , Hg—X, TlZ 2 and Mg—X; wherein y is an integer equal to or less than 3, R′ is hydrogen, alkyl, aryl, cycloalkyl, or aralkyl, cycloaryl, or poly(alkylether), R″ is fluoroalkyl, fluoroaryl, fluorocycloalkyl, fluoroaralkyl or cycloaryl, X is halide, and Z is carboxylate or trifluoroacetate, or a combination thereof.

9. The highly conductive graphitic film of claim 2 , wherein said graphitic film has a thickness from 10 nm to 200 μm.

10. The highly oriented humic acid film of claim 1 , wherein said highly oriented humic acid film has an oxygen content less than 2.0%, an inter-planar spacing less than 0.35 nm, a physical density no less than 1.6 g/cm 3 , a thermal conductivity of at least 800 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 2,500 S/cm.

11. The highly oriented humic acid film of claim 3 , wherein said highly oriented humic acid film has an oxygen content less than 2.0%, an inter-planar spacing less than 0.35 nm, a physical density no less than 1.6 g/cm 3 , a thermal conductivity of at least 800 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 2,500 S/cm.

12. The highly conducting graphitic film of claim 2 , wherein said graphitic film has an oxygen content less than 1.0%, an inter-planar spacing less than 0.345 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 1,000 W/mK, and an electrical conductivity no less than 5,000 S/cm.

13. The highly conducting graphitic film of claim 4 , wherein said graphitic film has an oxygen content less than 1.0%, an inter-planar spacing less than 0.345 nm, a thermal conductivity of at least 1,000 W/mK, and an electrical conductivity no less than 5,000 S/cm.

14. The highly conducting graphitic film of claim 2 , wherein said graphitic film has an oxygen content no greater than 0.1%, an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.340 nm, a mosaic spread value no greater than 0.7, a thermal conductivity of at least 1,300 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 8,000 S/cm.

15. The highly conducting graphitic film of claim 4 , wherein said graphitic film has an oxygen content no greater than 0.1%, an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.340 nm, a mosaic spread value no greater than 0.7, a thermal conductivity of at least 1,300 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity no less than 8,000 S/cm.

16. The highly conducting graphitic film of claim 2 , wherein said graphitic film has an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.336 nm, a mosaic spread value no greater than 0.4, a thermal conductivity greater than 1,600 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity greater than 10,000 S/cm.

17. The highly conducting graphitic film of claim 4 , wherein said graphitic film has an inter-graphene spacing less than 0.336 nm, a mosaic spread value no greater than 0.4, a thermal conductivity greater than 1,600 W/mK, and/or an electrical conductivity greater than 10,000 S/cm.

18. The highly oriented graphitic film of claim 2 , having tensile strength greater than 80 MPa, and/or an elastic modulus greater than 60 GPa.

19. The highly oriented graphitic film of claim 4 , having a physical density greater than 1.9 g/cm 3 , a tensile strength greater than 80 MPa, and/or an elastic modulus greater than 60 GPa.

20. The highly oriented graphitic film of claim 2 , having a physical density greater than 2.0 g/cm 3 , a tensile strength greater than 100 MPa, and/or an elastic modulus greater than 80 GPa.

21. The highly oriented graphitic film of claim 4 , having a physical density greater than 2.0 g/cm 3 , a tensile strength greater than 100 MPa, and/or an elastic modulus greater than 80 GPa.

22. The highly oriented graphitic film of claim 2 , having a physical density greater than 2.1 g/cm 3 , a tensile strength greater than 120 MPa, and/or an elastic modulus greater than 120 GPa.

23. A microelectronic device containing the highly oriented humic acid film of claim 1 as a heat-dissipating or heat-spreading element.

24. A microelectronic device containing the highly oriented humic acid film of claim 3 as a heat-dissipating or heat-spreading element.

25. A microelectronic device containing the highly conducting graphitic film of claim 2 as a heat-dissipating or heat-spreading element.

26. A microelectronic device containing the highly conducting graphitic film of claim 4 as a heat-dissipating or heat-spreading element.

27. The microelectronic device of claim 23 , which is a smart phone, tablet computer, flat-panel display, flexible display, electronic watch, a wearable electronic device, a TV, or a microelectronic communications device.

28. The microelectronic device of claim 24 , which is a smart phone, tablet computer, flat-panel display, flexible display, electronic watch, a wearable electronic device, a TV, or a microelectronic communications device.

29. The microelectronic device of claim 25 , which is a smart phone, tablet computer, flat-panel display, flexible display, electronic watch, a wearable electronic device, a TV, or a microelectronic communications device.

30. The microelectronic device of claim 26 , which is a smart phone, tablet computer, flat-panel display, flexible display, electronic watch, a wearable electronic device, a TV, or a microelectronic communications device.