Review—Recent Advances in Thermally Conductive Paper-Like Films

Abstract

Polymer nanocomposites have been extensively used in the electronic industry as thermal interface materials (TIMs) and thermal management materials owing to their sought-after properties related to thermal conductivity and electrical insulation. Typical TIMs include thermal pads and grease; however, thermal papers/films are rapidly getting popular for their remarkable properties like mechanical strength and extraordinary thermal conductivity (TC). Papery films with merits, including simple processing reduced optimized thickness, and enhanced flexibility, are emerging as a new class of materials for thermal management applications in electronics. Thus, even higher loading concentrations of thermally conductive fillers, as high as 95 wt.%, could achieve a tremendous TC with practically no deterioration in the mechanical integrity of composite films, something that was previously known to be a major problem in conventional polymer nanocomposites. In this review, we shall highlight and discuss the latest progress in thermally conductive papers/tapes/thin films and their possible impact on the next-generation electronic components relying on advanced nanotechnologies, and, discuss how these advancements have helped resolving the setbacks related to conventional thermal interface materials, thereby making the thermally conductive thin films/papers a viable solution for future microelectronics.

Electrical Heaters for Anti/De-Icing of Polymer Structures

“…However, the presence of MWCNTs can cause a drop in electrical resistivity, with the material losing its dielectric properties. The using of BN additives in 3D structures such as polymer aerogels allows it to reach high thermal conductivity [ 108 , 109 ]. In [ 110 ], the authors showed excellent in-plane and out-of-plane thermal conductivities of 0.76 W/mK and 0.61 W/mK with a ratio of BN/PVA of (2:1) in comparison with 0.15 W/mK for the pure polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) matrix.…”

Emerging Flexible Thermally Conductive Films: Mechanism, Fabrication, Application

“…The fabrication of flexible thermally conductive films with high in-plane k has become the research frontier, while the commercial applications of these films are still in their early stages of development [ 198 ]. Flexible thermally conductive films are suitable for applications where in-plane conduction and flexibility are critical, such as flexible heat spreaders, personal thermal management, energy storage devices and electrocaloric cooling devices [ 29 , 199 ].…”

Enhanced thermal transportation across an electrostatic self-assembly of black phosphorene and boron nitride nanosheets in flexible composite films

“…12,13 Besides, its anisotropic thermal conductivity also facilitates the fabrication of heatspreading films for high-power electronics via aligning the high-aspect-ratio nanosheets to construct oriented thermal transport channels. [14][15][16][17] So far, research on BNNS-based composites with high thermal conductivity has been making rapid progress. The fundamental difficulty lies in the orientation of anisotropic BNNS and lowering the interfacial resistance between the fillers and matrixes.…”