Effect of Polymeric In Situ Stabilizer on Dispersion Homogeneity of Nanofillers and Thermal Conductivity Enhancement of Composites.

Boron nitride (BN) nanofillers-based polymer composites have been considered promising candidates for efficient heat-dissipating packaging materials because of their superior thermal conductivity, mechanical strength as well as chemical resistance. However, strong aggregation of the BN nanofillers in composite matrix as well as difficulty in modification of chemically inert surface prevents their effective use in polymer composites. Herein, we report an effective method of using in situ stabilizers to achieve homogeneous dispersion of boron nitride (BN) nanofillers in an epoxy-based polymeric matrix and demonstrate their use as efficient heat-dissipating materials. Poly(4-vinylpyridine) (P4VP) is designed and added into the epoxy resin to produce in situ stabilizers during dispersing hexagonal BN (h-BN) and BN nanotubes (BNNTs). In-depth experimental and theoretical studies indicated that the homogeneous distribution of BN nanofillers in epoxy composites achieved by using the in situ stabilizer enhanced the thermal conductivity of the composite by ~27% at the same concentration of the BN nanofillers. In addition, the thermal conductivity of h-BN/epoxy composite (~3.3 W/mK) was dramatically improved by ~48% (4.9 W/mK) when the homogeneously dispersed BNNTs (~1.8 vol%) were added. The concept of the proposed in situ stabilizer can be further utilized to prepare the epoxy composites with homogeneous distribution of BN nanofillers which is critical for reproducible and position-independent composite properties.

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