Silver Nanoparticle-Deposited Boron Nitride Nanosheets as Fillers for Polymeric Composites with High Thermal Conductivity

Abstract

Polymer composites with high thermal conductivity have recently attracted much attention, along with the rapid development of the electronic devices toward higher speed and performance. However, a common method to enhance polymer thermal conductivity through an addition of high thermally conductive fillers usually cannot provide an expected value, especially for composites requiring electrical insulation. Here, we show that polymeric composites with silver nanoparticle-deposited boron nitride nanosheets as fillers could effectively enhance the thermal conductivity of polymer, thanks to the bridging connections of silver nanoparticles among boron nitride nanosheets. The thermal conductivity of the composite is significantly increased from 1.63 W/m-K for the composite filled with the silver nanoparticle-deposited boron nitride nanosheets to 3.06 W/m-K at the boron nitride nanosheets loading of 25.1 vol %. In addition, the electrically insulating properties of the composite are well preserved. Fitting the measured thermal conductivity of epoxy composite with one physical model indicates that the composite with silver nanoparticle-deposited boron nitride nanosheets outperforms the one with boron nitride nanosheets, owning to the lower thermal contact resistance among boron nitride nanosheets’ interfaces. The finding sheds new light on enhancement of thermal conductivity of the polymeric composites which concurrently require the electrical insulation.

Thermal Transport in 3D Nanostructures

“…Note that the Foygel model assumes percolating networks in the matrix with random distributed fillers. With the fitted values from the experimental measurements, the thermal contact resistance R c is then calculated from . It is estimated that the R c for CNT/EP and MoS 2 /CNT/EP are around (2.17–3.98) × 10 7 and 1.9 × 10 7 K W −1 , respectively, which are much higher than the MoS 2 /graphene/CNT/EP (8.3 × 10 6 K W −1 ).…”

Enhanced thermal conductivity of epoxy composites filled with silicon carbide nanowires

“…In order to overcome this problem, a variety of methods have been developed to improve the thermal conductivity. A traditional method is to introduce high contents of thermally conductive fillers, such as metals 6–11 , ceramic particles 12–15 , carbon nanotubes 16–20 , or graphene nanoplateles 21–25 . In particular, the silicon carbides are provided with excellent properties such as high thermal conductivity, high thermal stability, high breakdown field, excellent mechanical properties and chemical inertness 26–32 .…”

Effect of Filler Shape on the Thermal Conductivity of Thermal Functional Composites

“…Certainly, BNNS is also an excellent additive in TFCs for thermal conductivity 8 Journal of Nanomaterials enhancement and it faces the same dispersion uniformity problem in matrix. For enhancing the thermal conductivity of polymer, silver nanoparticle-deposited boron nitride nanosheets were filled in polymer [91], owing to the bridging three-dimensional thermal conductive network between silver nanoparticles and boron nitride nanosheets. The thermal conductivity of the composite filled with the silver nanoparticle-deposited boron nitride nanosheets was up to 3.06 W/m⋅K, while that filled with single-boron nitride nanosheets was 1.63 W/m⋅K at the boron nitride nanosheets loading of 25.1 vol.%.…”