With the trend of device miniaturization and higher integration, polymer composites with high thermal conductivity are highly desirable for efficient removal of accumulated heat to maintain high performance of electronics. In this work, epoxy composites embedded with three-dimensional hexagonal boron nitride (BN) scaffold were fabricated. The BN–poly(vinylidene difluoride) (PVDF) scaffold was prepared by the salt template method using PVDF as the adhesive, while the corresponding epoxy composite was manufactured with vacuum-assisted impregnation. The epoxy/BN-PVDF composite exhibits high thermal conductivity with low loading of BN. The thermal conductivity of epoxy/BN-PVDF composite achieved 1.227 W/(m K) with 21 wt % BN, contributed by the constructed BN pathway held together by PVDF adhesive. In addition, PVDF could be further converted into carbon by thermal treatment, further enhancing the thermal conductivity of epoxy/BN-C composites through alleviating the phonon scattering at the interfaces, eventually obtaining thermal conductivity of 1.466 W/(m K). This type of epoxy-based composite with high thermal conductivity is promising to be used as thermal management materials in advanced electronic devices.
Porous polymeric foams as dielectric layer for highly sensitive capacitive based pressure sensors have been extensively explored owing to their excellent flexibility and elasticity. Despite intensive efforts, most of previously reported porous polymer foams still suffer from difficulty in further lowering the attainable density limit of ≈0.1 g cm−3 while retaining high sensitivity and compressibility due to the limitations on existing fabrication techniques and materials. Herein, utilizing 3D interconnected networks of few‐layer hexagonal boron nitride foams (h‐BNFs) as supporting frameworks, lightweight and highly porous BN/polydimethylsiloxane composite foams (BNF@PDMS) with densities reaching as low as 15 mg cm−3 and permittivity close to that of air are fabricated. This is the lightest PDMS‐based foam reported to date. Owing to the synergistic effects between BN and PDMS, these lightweight composite foams possess excellent mechanical resilience, extremely high compressibility (up to 95% strain), good cyclic performance, and superelasticity. Being electrically nonconductive, the potential application of BNF@PDMS as a dielectric layer for capacitive sensors is further demonstrated. Remarkably, the as‐fabricated device can perform multiple sensing functions such as noncontact touch sensor, environmental monitoring sensor, and high sensitivity pressure sensor that can detect extremely low pressures of below 1 Pa.
The excellent biocompatibility, biodegradability and chemo-thermal stability of poly(vinyl alcohol) (PVA) have been harnessed in diverse practical applications. These properties have motivated the fabrication of high performance PVA based nanofibers with adequate control over the micro and nano-architectures and surface chemical interactions. However, the high water solubility and hydrophilicity of the PVA polymer limits the application of the electrospun PVA nanofibers in aqueous environments owing to instantaneous dissolution. In this work, we report a novel yet facile concept for fabricating extremely light, fluffy, insoluble and stable three dimensional (3D) PVA fibrous scaffolds with/without coating for multifunctional purposes. While the solubility, morphology, fiber density and mechanical properties of nanofibers could be tuned by optimizing the cross-linking conditions, the surface chemical reactivity could be readily enhanced by coating with a polydopamine (pDA) bioinspired polymer without compromising the stability and innate properties of the native PVA fiber. The 3D pDA-PVA scaffolds exhibited super dye adsorption and constructive synergistic cell-material interactions by promoting healthy adhesion and viability of the human mesenchymal stem cells (hMSCs) within 3D micro-niches. We foresee the application of tunable PVA 3D as a highly adsorbent material and a scaffold material for tissue regeneration and drug delivery with close consideration of realistic in vivo parameters.
Water diffusion into polymers like thermosetting epoxies is well-studied; however, comparably little has been reported thus far on the related but very different mechanism of acid diffusion and the corresponding influence on material degradation. The diffusion of hydrochloric acid into an amine-cured epoxy system was studied in this work using gravimetric analysis and dielectric monitoring concurrently, and the mass uptake behavior was observed to differ significantly compared with water diffusion, faster by an order of magnitude. A unique 3-stage diffusion of acid into epoxy was observed due to the influence of Coulombic interactions between oppositely charged ionic species diffusing at different rates. Material characterization studies have revealed that the dominant degradation mechanism is physical in nature, with the formation of surface cracks driven by the swelling stresses due to the core–shell swelling behavior in highly concentrated hydrochloric acid, leading to an erosion-type degradation phenomenon. The insights gained from understanding acid electrolyte diffusion could serve to design a more effective and efficient process to enable thermoset recycling by facilitating rapid material breakdown or the design of acid-resistant materials for various applications in chemical storage tanks, batteries, and protective coatings in a corrosive environment.
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