【#Tech24H】Copper foil is a thin sheet of copper metal. In practical use, it must withstand complex mechanical stresses such as winding, stamping, and bending, while simultaneously meeting three requirements: high strength, high electrical conductivity, and good thermal stability. However, conventional copper foil struggles to achieve all three at once. Recently, the Institute of Metal Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, succeeded in developing a super copper foil that combines ultra-high strength, high conductivity, and excellent thermal stability. Using a novel “gradient hierarchical structure” as the core microstructural design and an industry-standard direct current electrodeposition process, the researchers added micro green organic additives to a 99.91% pure copper foil just 10 micrometers thick, in situ constructing countless super-nano domains averaging only 3 nanometers in size on the nano-grained copper matrix. The resulting foil has a tensile strength of up to 900 MPa, surpassing the strength limit of traditional copper foil. Its electrical conductivity is about three times that of copper alloys of equivalent strength. Moreover, after nearly six months of storage at room temperature, its performance shows no degradation. [ By Zhang Liyan | Tang Ruohan ]